Wolf Moon
by MidnightOracle
Summary: Ever since she was a little girl, 18 year old Temari has had a fascination with wolves. Recently a new pack has moved into the area, but there is definitely something mysterious, exotic, and different about these wolves. AU ItaTema
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series in any way *Sniffles*.

Wolf Moon Ch.1 

Fog began to weave its way through the lush valley turning the valley into shades of pastel colors promising that the pitch black color of night was not far from coming. The valley was a place of beauty and the villagers were in love with what they considered was their slice of paradise. The valley consisted of a mountain range that lay at the back end of the valley and was its furthest most northern border and from here it was that the cold winds came from some arctic planes and brought in the Winter the snow and ice, and in the Fall and Spring the rains that kept the valley lush and colorful. The mountain range framed a large meadow to the right of a small, narrow, and very uneven dirt road, and to the left of this same road there was a lake hidden by bushes, tall grasses, and trees. The lake was large enough for the fishermen of the village to cast out their rowboats to fish in, large enough for the villagers to swim in during the hot days of summer, and large enough for the villagers to skate and sled on during the winter months. The meadow was encircled by trees that grew thicker as it merged into the woods and these woods in turn ran up and through the passes of the mountain range at its lower elevations. Not many people except the hunters, wood gatherers, and mushroom and berry pickers ventured into the forest as the pathway became narrower, darker, and steeper as it maneuvered its way up into the passes of the mountain range becoming past the tree line only wide enough for a mountain goat to travel on. The people hardly ventured past the tree line as the terrain was most inhospitable to both man and beast. The meadow was a favorite spot for the villagers to have picnics and for the children to play their large games during the day, but come late afternoon when the mountain range cast shadows upon the meadow and the darkness and coldness radiating from the woods emerged upon the meadow causing a sudden chill in the air, this was enough to break up any party and send the merrymakers home quickly.

The sun had just descended from its place in the sky, giving way to the moon which now hung in the sky like a luminous pearl, and the fog was weaving its magic into the meadow and upon the lake. The fog muted the sounds of the forest, meadow and lake, and everything had a peaceful stillness to it. Suddenly the peaceful quiet of the dusk was interrupted by a door being quietly and cautiously opened and closed. Out of the cottage stepped a young woman who hastily drew her cloak tighter against her body to ward off the evening chill. A feeling of excitement began to stir in the pit of her stomach as the young woman's leaf green eyes glanced towards the new moon as it was being cradled in the arms of the old. _Perfect there will be just enough light_, 18 year old Temari Sabaku thought to herself. Temari clutched the basket on her arm tightly against her body as she stole one more glance behind her to ensure that the house was still quiet as her brothers should not have been home from their knightly training sessions yet. Once satisfied that she was in the clear Temari quickly yet cautiously snuck off her family's property and began walking towards the small narrow dirt road that led its way towards the forest.

As she drew nearer to the forest path Temari heard a familiar voice ring through the darkness "And where do you think you're going?" turning, Temari gazed upon one of her childhood friends Nara Shikamaru  
>"Out…" Temari replied with a smirk<br>"Really now I couldn't tell." Shikamaru countered with an equally smug expression on his face. Just as Temari was about to come back with a no doubt witty response she heard footsteps and another familiar voice reached her ears.  
>"Wolf hunting I see." Sasuke said pointing to the basket looped onto Temari's arm.<br>"Oh you guys know me so well." Temari said smiling at her other friend.  
>"So I take it Gaara and Kankuro don't know that you're out." Sasuke replied with a sense of smugness<br>"Are you kidding? If either of my brothers knew what I am about to do and or have been doing they wouldn't just have a cow, they would have a whole damn barn as well." Temari replied causing Shikamaru and Sasuke to chuckle slightly for everyone in the village knew just how overprotective Temari's brothers were of her. These two boys considered themselves lucky that they had been, sort of, accepted as friends by her brothers. This meant they got the less hostile version of a silent look of promised pain that would be thrown upon them should they ever do anything that the two brothers didn't like with regards to Temari.  
>"So what are you guys doing out?" Temari asked her friends<br>"It's my first night of century duty." Sasuke replied with a bored and pained expression and although he was trying to hide it, Shikamaru and Temari saw right through his feigned expression for the two of them knew how excited Sasuke was to be given this honor so early in his knighthood apprenticeship. Then again with Sir Kakashi as his master the two friends knew that Kakashi would happily give his students more of his responsibilities so that he could have more free time to read his Icha Icha Paradise books. But to be fair Kakashi's students were always at the top of the class because of it, which in turn irritated Sir Gai, Kakashi's friend/rival to no end. Temari then turned her attention to Shikamaru once more.  
>"And you?" Temari asked<br>"Mom wanted me to check the horses, make sure the shop was locked, and then check in with Sir Asuma to make sure he didn't need me for anything. But knowing Asuma he is pretty much on top of everything and won't need me. This in turn makes this whole thing extremely troublesome." Shikamaru replied with a slight irritation that was laced through his bored tone causing Temari to chuckle.  
>"Well I don't want to miss them so I better go." Temari said as she glanced towards the illuminated forest before her.<br>"Ah yes little red riding hood, your wolves await your return. Don't want to keep them waiting now do we?" Sasuke said teasingly to which Temari playfully stuck her tongue out at him in response to one of his nicknames for her.  
>Temari had always worn a red cape for as long as she could remember, but part of the reason why she adored them so much was that her mother had made them for her before she died during a riding accident. Wearing the red capes somehow made her feel closer to her mom since she didn't have much else from her mother to remember her by. Temari's father was killed in battle when she was 10 years old leaving her two older brothers and an elderly neighbor who insisted that Temari call her Nana to take care of her. Her brothers were the only blood relatives she had left.<br>"Be careful." her friends said in unison.  
>"Am I not always?" Temari asked teasingly.<br>"That is completely debatable." Shikamaru teasingly countered which earned him a hard punch to the arm.  
>"Oi, woman what the hell? Just go to your precious wolves already." Shikamaru groaned as he felt a bruise starting to form on his arm.<br>"On my way cry baby." Temari replied chuckling and with a wink and a quick wave goodbye she turned on her heals and started walking down the path into the forest.

The forest floor was brilliantly lit by the moon's radiant glow that managed to filter through the thin veiled fog in the forest, as Temari cautiously made her way deeper into the forest. Ever since she was a little girl Temari had always been fascinated with wolves, their howls were sweet music to her ears. To the other villagers the wolves howl was only a sign of potential trouble and for some something that should be feared and hunted. When she was younger Temari and her mom would sneak out of the house careful not to disturb the other sleeping inhabitants of the house and go to the lake by the edge of the forest and listen to the wolves howl sweetly to the moon. There in her mother's arms sitting by the lake taking in the wolves' sweet melodies Temari had never felt safer. As Temari began to mature and grow she and her mother would venture deeper into the forest, and find safe places to observe the wolf packs. On her 8th birthday Temari received a sketch pad from her mother and Temari began taking it with her on their wolf seeking expeditions. Even after her mother had passed away Temari just couldn't give up the wolves, for some reason they seemed to help fill a piece of her that she felt she had lost when her mother was cruelly ripped away from her. Each wolf and wolf pack that she had observed over time with and without her mother was different in many ways yet also the same and this somehow always amused Temari to no end.

However, very recently a new wolf pack had gained the turf, and this pack was a unique one indeed. They were all slightly bigger than the average wolf pack, and way more majestic. For the past two nights Temari had been unable to tear her eyes away from them long enough to sketch them, which amused Temari's friends to no end. But tonight would be different she was more determined than ever. Having finally reached her destination Temari found one of her favorite wolf watching trees and with some difficulty managed to climb up onto her favorite branch. After getting comfortable and making sure that her riding pants and her cape were not ripped Temari heard the thundering of paws hitting the forest floor. In spite of herself Temari smiled as she quickly withdrew her sketch pad and drawing utensil. Finally they came bounding into sight, in this pack Temari had catalogued that at the moment there were about 9 wolves, and each very unique in their own ways. The way they interacted with each other seemed almost humanly. As her eyes roamed over the pack once more she found that her breath hitched as her favorite wolf came bounding into sight. This wolf was sleek, and muscular with inky black fur, and the most mesmerizing eyes she had ever seen. His eyes were what had caught her attention to his magnificent form … the eyes were a devilish mixture of black and red. Yes, this was definitely the first thing that had caught her attention when she first saw this wolf. For even within his own pack he was the only one as far as she could tell that had them.

A/N: Hi Everyone! ^-^ This is my third fanfic and my second Naruto fanfic. I hope you guys like this chapter! This is a pairing that I had just stumbled upon recently and found it interesting. I have not read the series up to Shippuden yet so if anything is out of the norm I apologize in advance. If any characters are and or seem OOC and this displeases you again I apologize. Reviews are encouraged and greatly appreciated, but please no flames! Thank you for taking the time to read this!

-Midnight Oracle


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series in anyway *Sniffles*.

Wolf Moon Ch.2 

Temari's gaze followed the black wolf below as he trotted up to a boulder and jumped onto it. Temari's heart suddenly skipped a few beats when out of nowhere another muscular wolf with silver eyes, blue-ish fur, black paws, and razor sharp teeth leapt at him. Having somehow anticipated this, the black wolf calmly leapt out of the way causing the blue wolf to slam into another member of the pack. This wolf, who received the unexpected and sudden slam, was lean but muscular too, had red fur, and blue/grey eyes. An irritated expression made its way across the red wolf's face as he then laid back his ears snarled and lunged at the blue wolf. The blue wolf could barely register the return attack as he was still in the process of pulling himself together from his misguided attempt at male physical banter with the black wolf. The blue wolf not ready let out a surprised yip as the red wolf then slammed into him and bit his ear causing the blue wolf to growl out in pain. Once the red wolf heard his opponent yip and growl out in pain, he let the blue wolf go, smirked and swiped at the blue wolf smacking him across the muzzle. Laying his ears back the blue wolf snapped back at the red wolf in retaliation. The red and blue wolves began to circle one another as the other members of the pack began to gather around to watch their pack members' spar. Temari ripped her eyes away from the blue and red wolves back to her magnificent black wolf who was watching his pack's antics from on top of the boulder with a smug expression on his face.

Temari started to sketch the wolves below and suddenly smiled and nearly chuckled out loud for the scene unraveling before her reminded her of a similar occurrence between Sasuke, Naruto, and Shikamaru. On a warm summer's day the four of them had gone to the lake after their knightly training session to cool off. After their swim Temari remembered that she, Sasuke, and Shikamaru had been sitting on a boulder drying off, with Sasuke sitting between them. Naruto had come out of nowhere and tried to do a playful sneak attack on Sasuke. Since Temari had seen Naruto coming towards them out of the corner of her eye she had leapt out of the way but not before pushing Sasuke off of the boulder to save him from being slammed into. Just as Sasuke hit the water Naruto slammed into Shikamaru by accident and Shikamaru was pushed into the water by the force of the impact. Shikamaru had angrily charged out of the water and after Naruto for revenge. Sasuke had surfaced just in time to see Naruto collide with Shikamaru and then run for his life as Shikamaru went after him cursing up a storm and shaking his fist at Naruto. This scene had caused both Sasuke and Temari to laugh so hard that they had nearly choked on the water that they were treading in. To cover their wounded egos the two boys had continued to fight and rough house with one another in an attempt to gain a shred of their dignity back.

Temari was pulled out of her reminiscing when she heard a loud thud and watched as the blue wolf was slammed onto his back and forced to submit. This final act of retaliation by the red wolf appeared to amuse the other wolves who were still watching the antics of these two wolves unfold. Temari smiled as she opened her sketch book and began to sketch the red wolf who was now sitting back on his haunches with a smirk on his face as he watched his other pack members socialize with each other. It appeared to her that they were discussing the events that had just occurred with each other which amused her to no end and made her wonder in amazement at how almost human like this behavior appeared to be. Little did she know that as she was blissfully sketching away the inky black wolf had looked up and was now staring and observing her in great detail and with great interest.

Temari was almost done sketching the red wolf when the hair on the back of her neck stood up and an eerie chill ran down her spine, something was watching her. Temari looked up from her sketch pad and looked around her and gasped, and nearly dropped her sketching utensil as her jade eyes met his crimson ones. The black wolf stared up at her calmly, tilted his head to the side, and continued to stare at her with an expression in his eyes that Temari couldn't quite read. Temari was stunned, for none of the other wolves that she had ever observed before had seemed to notice that she was there. This feeling of being invisible had given her the courage to continue with her hobby of observing the wolves even without the protection of her mother being there with her. Inwardly Temari reasoned that perhaps the wolf was just staring past her and not specifically at her. But when Temari shifted on the branch a little the wolf followed her every movement. All of a sudden the black wolf looked away when the pack's alpha howled, barked and began to run in the opposite direction with the rest of his pack starting after him. After one final glance up at her the black wolf sprinted after his pack.

Once they were all out of sight Temari released a breath of air that she hadn't realized that she had been holding. Temari was still stunned as she thought in near panic, _the wolf; it saw me, looked right at me and didn't do anything, _continued to play itself over and over again in her mind. Once she had calmed herself down enough to where she could move, Temari numbly began to pack away her sketching supplies, carefully climbed down the tree, and slowly made her way down the path back towards the village. As she walked Temari didn't notice that her black wolf was watching her walk away from behind a cluster of trees.

The moon was high in the sky as Temari reached her cottage. Looking through the window Temari saw that a fire was blazing in the hearth and her two brothers were sitting around their dining table and conversing with one another. The fact that they looked so calm was a sign that they didn't know she was gone. _They must have only just gotten back, dammit I had hoped to beat them home _Temari thought to herself as she took a deep breath and opened the front door slowly in the hopes of being able to sneak past her brothers and up to her room. Sadly this was not to be the case for the moment she opened the door, her brothers' attention immediately snapped to her _ohh no, this won't be good_ Temari thought to herself as she saw the disapproving looks on her brothers' faces.

"Temari what the hell! Where have you been?" Kankuro Temari's eldest brother snapped at her with an angry and annoyed expression on his face. Temari looked at her brother as calmly as she could muster though her insides were cramping in nervousness,

"I ran into Shikamaru on my way home and offered to help him put his horses back into their stalls." Temari replied hopeful that this answer would get her brothers off her back.

"So if we were to go ask Shikamaru about this tomorrow he would tell us the same thing?" Gaara asked with suspicion laced in his voice.

"Yes, now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go wash up." Temari replied confidently as she began walking by her two brothers who were staring at her with their arms folded across their chests. Temari tried to make sure that her brother didn't see the basket hanging off her other arm but as she started to pass Gaara he snaked his arm to the side of her that wasn't facing them and grabbed on to her arm stopping her dead in her tracks.

"Why do you have your art basket hanging off of your arm?" Gaara asked with a tone that told her she was starting to drift up a certain creek without a paddle.

"Because Sasuke, Shikamaru, Naruto and I were having a picnic lunch so I brought my art basket since it's bigger than the other baskets in the house for food storage." Temari lied cheerfully

"So if I were too look in there right now, all that would be in there would be a few dirty napkins and that would be it right?" Kankuro asked her as he slowly walked up to her and put a hand on the basket lid.

A trickle of sweat started to run down the back of Temari's neck as she looked at Kankuro and replied "Of course" secretly hoping that he would just believe her and let it go.

Narrowing his eyes Kankuro much to Temari's utter dismay opened the basket and saw her art supplies. Angrily Kankuro met Temari's gaze once more "This doesn't look like dirty napkins to me." Kankuro snapped at her causing Gaara to look into the basket and then gaze at his younger sister with an icy stare

"Why are your art supplies in there then?" Gaara asked in a deadly calm voice.

"Well, we went to the field where the wild deer like to run so I thought in case we saw the herd of deer I might be able to sketch them." Temari replied now nervously as she had rarely lied to her brothers before. Catching the nervousness in her voice, Gaara asked her in an icy manner

"So if I looked inside of your sketch book right now there would be possible deer drawings or nothing but blank pages right?", and to this Temari nodded her head in the hopes that he wouldn't open it and would just drop the subject. Again this wasn't the case for Gaara picked up her sketch book and opened it, after turning through several pages Gaara fixed a glare of wrath upon his sister.

"You call this a deer?" Gaara asked staring at a picture of the red wolf

"Hey, since when did you become an art critic?" Temari asked her brother with a hurt expression on her face. Kankuro just chuckled, looked at Gaara and asked "Is it really that bad?" as he reached out for her sketch book. Upon seeing the wolf picture his chuckles died in his throat and he also glared at Temari.

"You were just out there weren't you?" Kankuro yelled at his sister

"Possibly…" Temari mumbled in defeat.

"DAMMIT TEMARI YOU KNOW HOW WE FEEL ABOUT THAT!" Kankuro thundered as Temari tried to fight down the tears that were starting to prickle her eyes.

"I'm sorry…" Temari said softly as she tried to keep her voice steady

"Tem you're the only family we have left… we just worry about you." Kankuro said his voice slowly softening up.

"Tem I'm sorry to have to do this but we forbid you to go into the forest without one of us, or someone we approve of, and or unless one of the knights or village leaders tells you to go in. At least for a little while until you start listening to us." Gaara said his voice calm once more.

"I'm not a little kid anymore! You can't do this… it's not fair!" Temari retaliated enraged

"Tem, we can and we just did." Kankuro replied looking at his sister's infuriated expression

"Mom would never have done this!" Temari snapped

"We know, we also know how much fun you two had even if we never agreed with it. But Mom is not here anymore, so I'm sorry but we stand by this decision." Kankuro said as he handed the sketch book back to his sister.

Temari glared at her brothers angrily as she snatched her sketch book out of her brother's grasp and started to storm towards the stairwell only to pause a moment upon hearing Gaara's voice once more "In the morning we're going to ask the Nara and the Uchiha boys to accompany you around to make sure you don't sneak off. In addition to that we do have people in town who will tell us if you disobey anything we just told you."

"But…" Temari started to say only to be interrupted by Kankuro "I'm sorry Tem but this is something we both agree on. It will only be temporary for now, unless you do something stupid and force us to make it permanent."

Temari glared at her brothers as fury filled her body "Fine!" she snapped at them knowing it was useless to argue against them especially since they both banded together against her. Temari glared at them once more as she stormed up the stairs to her room and slammed her door shut.

Angrily Temari threw her art basket onto her bed walked to her window opened her windowsill and stared at the moon glowing brightly before her as the wolves' howls filled the air. _They are so lucky to be so free; I wish someday I can be that free_ Temari thought to herself. Sighing deeply Temari walked to her bed, unpacked her sketch book, and lay down. She flipped through her sketch book until she found the picture of her black wolf. _Why were you staring at me like that?_ Temari thought as she slowly drifted off to sleep.

/N: Hi Everyone! ^-^ Happy Friday, I want to thank you for reading so far. I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter! Reviews are greatly appreciated, but please no flames! Thank you for taking the time to read this!

-Midnight Oracle


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series in anyway *Sniffles*.

Wolf Moon Ch.3 

Under the moon's radiant glow a sleek black wolf trotted up to a vista point in the forest above the village below and sat back on his haunches. A pair of crimson eyes observed the familiar village below while he calmly started to rememorize every detail possible. Lifting his muzzle to the night sky he took a deep breath and let the various scents invaded his nose. When a familiar scent hit him he calmly closed his eyes and relaxed his body. The scent that stood out the most to the wolf was one of faint lemon grass, orange blossoms, lavender, and a slight hint of sweat. This particular scent belonged to her, that peculiar blond female who was observing them from the safety of the tall tree in the meadow. There was something about her that captivated him, when their eyes had met he saw such joy and passion in them that it threw him off guard. For he had expected to see fear in those passionate eyes as well as smell the tang of anxiety and perhaps even fear in her exotic scent because of being surrounded by wolves. Instead he saw amusement in her eyes as she watched the actions of his pack. He found himself entertained at her surprised and shocked expression when she had realized that he had seen her. After his alpha had caught wind of a herd of deer nearby they had all left to go hunt, and when they were done and mulling about the forest for the evening he was surprised to see her walking so serenely all alone down the forest path. In the moon's bright luminous light he could see her a little bit better; her red cloak hung gracefully around her curvaceous body and her hood hid her face from his sight. Intrigued he decided to follow her to see where she was headed to so late at night. He had done well with camouflaging himself using the darkness of the forest and stalked her silently through the forest until he saw the forest opening itself to a big meadow leading up to his old village. As the young black wolf was mulling over his thoughts he felt his muscles begin to spasm and shake as his body morphed from wolf to human once more. Slowly standing up the dark haired and handsomely chiseled young man stretched and inwardly smirked (for he prided himself at being able to mask his emotions) at the events that had unfolded before him.

The young man didn't even turn his head or look away from the village as the sound of paws hitting the soft earth turned into soft footsteps that approached him in a brisk manner.

"Kisame, what do you want?" the dark haired man asked his friend who approached him wearily

"To see where you went off to, and to see how you were doing." Kisame replied to which a heavy silence rewarded him.

"It's been a while since you've been anywhere near this place hasn't it Itachi?" Kisame asked trying again trying to get some sort of a response out of him.

"You know it has Kisame." Itachi finally replied stoically.

"They won't ever accept our kind, it's a dog eat dog world out there so don't try and go back, not that Pein would ever let you leave the pack either. The villagers would be shocked and possibly even joyful at your return, but don't forget the instant you reveal your true nature they won't think twice about "putting you out of your misery"." Kisame said in a warning tone.

"I have always known this Kisame." Itachi once again replied in a monotone voice. Kisame let out a deep and slightly irritated sigh at his friend's usual stoic behavior, and then a rustling in the bushes caught their attention

"Hey Kisame how's your butt feel since I just kicked it?" a young red haired man asked as he approached them smugly.

"Oh shut up Sasori, you just caught me by surprise. Next time you won't be so lucky." Kisame growled back.

"We'll see about that." Sasori said as he smirked at a now aggravated Kisame.

Just as Kisame was about to come up with a witty (or what was supposed to be a witty) response Itachi interrupted them "If you two love birds are quite finished, I know you didn't come all the way over here just to gloat over Kisame's humiliating defeat." At this statement Kisame pouted and Sasori's smirk grew into a smug grin

"Your right, Pein sent me to get you. You have a new assignment." Sasori said addressing Itachi.

Itachi said nothing as he turned, started running, and then as he leapt over a fallen tree trunk twisted his body in midair and landed on the forest floor in his wolf form running towards their hide out with Sasori and Kisame bounding after him.

-Back in the Village-

Temari slowly began to awaken when she felt the sun's morning rays illuminate the back of her eye lids, groaning Temari rolled over in an attempt to fall back asleep when a corner of her sketch book dug itself quite painfully into her chest. After letting out a deep sigh Temari sat up in her bed and peered out at the low fog that barely covered the floor of the landscape outside her window. Memories of what had happened the night before came flooding back to her. Temari let out an irritated growl as she got out of bed and walked over to her closet to get out a change of clothes. Just as Temari was lacing up the front of her black embroidered corset (which stood out nicely on top of her deep lavender shirt) Temari heard knocking on the front door and one of her brothers going to open it. Temari had hoped that her brothers might have taken back their rule about her being escorted everywhere like a dainty damsel in distress but no. It appeared as if they hadn't for Temari then heard Sasuke and Shikamaru's voices floating up the stairway.

"Temari, your friends are here!" Temari heard Kankuro shout up the stairway

"Coming!" Temari yelled in an aggravated tone as she pulled her boots over her riding pants, laced her sword's buckle tightly around her waist, grabbed her red cloak and walked down stairs.

"Morning sunshine" Shikamaru said teasingly to which he was given a cold glare from Temari as she grabbed a piece of toast off the kitchen table and motioned to Sasuke to open the door so they could leave.

Temari felt her brothers' eyes watching every movement that she made and before Temari made it out of the threshold she heard Gaara call out to her "I suggest you change your attitude towards us, unless you want us to tack on an extra week of being escorted."

To which Temari turned to face them and replied in a mockingly sweet and sarcastic voice "I'm so sorry for taking my irritation at being treated like a fragile vase out on you. I surely do appreciate having such wonderful and caring brothers looking out for me."

Kankuro smirked at Temari "Well that's a start." he said with fake cheerfulness to which Temari swiftly turned and slammed the front door shut behind her.

"Don't forget to be home by your curfew!" Gaara yelled out as Temari started to briskly walk away from the house.

"So how is your morning going so far?" Sasuke asked Temari with a teasingly look on his face

Temari looked at him and glared before snapping at him "Peachy, I get to be escorted around like a defenseless infant, and was practically put under house and village arrest by my paranoid older brothers. How is yours going so far?" Sasuke and Shikamaru chuckled

"They caught you didn't they?" Shikamaru asked

"Way to go genius how did you figure that one out?" Temari snapped at him

"Probably by your lovely attitude this morning, and the fact that Gaara had come by to talk to us." Sasuke interjected logically.

"I'm sorry you guys, but the punishment they came up with is just so utterly ridiculous! They have to realize that I'm not a little girl that needs protecting anymore." Temari said softly with irritation laced throughout her voice.

"Tem, you are their little sister and it must be hard for them to watch you grow and realize that eventually they have to let you go. That thought must scare them to death. "Sasuke replied softly before continuing softly "At least you have a family that cares about you and will go to stupid lengths to try and protect you." Sasuke finished stoically. At this statement Temari stopped walking and hugged Sasuke

"I'm sorry…." Temari said softly with a hint of guilt laced in her tone.

"Wow it just got deep all up in here." Shikamaru said playfully and jesting widely with his hands and trying to lighten up the mood. This earned him a playful punch on the arms from Sasuke and Temari

"Way to ruin the moment cry baby" Temari said lightheartedly as the three of them continued walking towards their training grounds.

"Nice of you to join us" Kakashi said in a bored tone, there were 3 things that shocked Temari and her two closest friends (1) Kakashi was early (2) There was no sign of his favorite book series anywhere and (3) He had then proceeded to tell them that he was doing a combined lesson today(for normally each of the teens would break up and meet with their respective teachers but due to a mission that each of their knights had gone on, they had put Kakashi in charge of their students' lessons for the day). The three teens just shrugged and started to spar with one another, as the day dragged on Temari had successfully beaten Shikamaru during combat training but had her butt handed to her when Sasuke attacked her during their stealth and combat training. While using the element of surprise Sasuke had managed to throw her off guard enough to land a hit on her. When they were done with their training for the day the three of them went to their favorite spot under the weeping willow next to the lake to relax.

"So what are you going to do tonight now that you have been successfully and beyond a doubt grounded?" Shikamaru asked Temari

"I have no idea, this is the first time in years that I haven't been able to go wolf watching." Temari replied both sadly and angrily at this realization.

"We could try and convince your brothers to let you go to firefly hill with us tonight and…"Shikamaru started saying before Temari interrupted him

"And then sneak off into the woods to go see the wolves?" Temari said while looking hopefully at him

"No, actually go to firefly hill and watch the firefly colonies. They may not be wolves but they are interesting. " Shikamaru answered and Temari looked at her friends and groaned

"Don't forget that other villagers will snitch on us if they see us smuggling you into the forest without your brothers' consent." Sasuke reminded her in an all knowingly manner.

Temari looked at him and glared "yeah, yeah I know." she replied

In an attempt to cheer her up (since he found unhappy women to be troublesome, especially if that woman was Temari) Shikamaru asked her "So found any favorites among the new wolf pack yet?" Just as Temari was about to answer Naruto came bounding up to them

"Hey Tem, Tsunade wishes to see you." he blurted out before anyone could say anything

"Do you know what she wants from me?" Temari asked him a little stunned from the village elders' request.

"Nope, now let's get a move on so we don't keep granny waiting." Naruto replied as the three of them stood up and followed him to one of their village elders' offices. Upon arriving Temari knocked on Tsunade's door

"Enter…" Tsunade said once Temari was inside Tsunade looked up from the paper work surrounding her

"Temari I have a solo mission for you if you choose to accept it." Tsunade said

"What is the mission?" Temari asked her elder respectfully

"In one of our neighboring allied villages we had requested from one of their finest weapons masters an order to make some new swords since our sword smith is still recovering from an injury and his apprentice is currently out with her squad on a mission too. Unfortunately our old swords are almost too old to use now and so we desperately need those swords that are now completed. Your mission is to pick up those swords and ahh yes you could also visit your "Nana" who lives nearby. This may enable you to go visit her for a bit while you are over there and get away from the little stress at home, ehh?" Tsunade replied in an all knowing tone

"Okay, but what about my brothers?" Temari asked

"They have been notified; you leave at dawn tomorrow." Tsunade replied

"Okay, thanks Tsunade." Temari said after bowing and leaving Tsunade's office. As Temari, Shikamaru, and Sasuke left Tsunade's office Temari excitedly told her two companions about her solo mission as the three of them walked back towards the direction of Temari's house.

A/N: Hi Everyone! ^-^ I hope that you have enjoyed the latest installment of this story! I am sorry for not updating sooner but I was busy studying for finals week and then having to endure finals week. I want to thank my wonderful readers and or reviews for your support you guys are awesome! Reviews are welcomed and very appreciated but please no flames!

-Midnight Oracle


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series or any of its characters *Sniffles*.

Wolf Moon Ch.4

The light from the sun's morning rays began to illuminate the valley below as Itachi, Sasori, and Kisame reached their packs hide out. All three of them shifted back into their human forms before they walked into the mouth of the cave opening. As they entered a wolf with magenta eyes and silver fur shifted into his human form

"There you are, Pein was getting impatient and had sent me out to drag your ass back here for the briefing of your next mission." the magenta eyed man said in an arrogant manner.

Itachi just walked past the silver haired man to his Alpha's office and as he reached the door he could hear his pack mates begin to bicker with one another as he knocked on Pein's door.

"Enter" said a powerful voice from behind the door, Itachi stepped into the room, closed the door behind him and turned to face a man with orange hair, a few tribal piercings, and grey/purple eyes.

"Itachi, there is a young woman whom I wish you to observe and then get close to. From scout reports she is highly trained with great battle skills, even though she is still a squire. She could be a valuable asset to us when we fight to take over your old village. For you see that village is the greatest in population, power, and influence. Once we take it over the other villages will easily be swayed to our will whether it be by surrender or force. But as you are very well aware your old village has most of the top fighters in the valley, therefore we need more wolf power to take them out or force them to surrender. Those humans will never know what hit them. Now the young lady in question has two older brothers who we could also possibly use, so as you get closer to her use this opportunity to spy on her brothers too and report back to me whether they would be a valuable addition to us or just another set of obstacles in my plan for complete and utter wolf domination." Pein said in a cold authoritative manner.

"I understand my assignment but who is the target in question, and when do I leave?" Itachi asked in a stoic manner.

"Your target's name is Temari Sabaku, and you leave immediately. If there are no further questions you are dismissed." Pein replied, Itachi gave a quick bow in order to not show his mixed emotions of fear but elation to be once again close to his past, he turned and left the room.

As Itachi started walking towards the cave exit he saw that Kisame, Sasori, and the silver haired man were still bickering. Inwardly Itachi smirked for the bickering was almost a daily occurrence among his pack members. When they heard him approach all three of them turned to face him.

"So how did it go?" Kisame asked

"The usual, I'm heading out for my mission now." Itachi said as he walked past Kisame

"Good luck!" Kisame called out to him to which he received no answer.

Itachi inwardly sighed as the first thing that he had to do was find out what she looked like and where she was located.

- Meanwhile-

Temari happily hummed to herself as she started to tack up her favorite horse named Midnight. Midnight was a black stallion with brown eyes, white sox, and a white blaze on his forehead.

"Temari…."said an unusually gentle voice

"Yeah?" Temari asked as she turned to find that she stood face to face with Gaara.

"I just wanted to wish you luck on your mission before you left and to tell you to be careful and to come home safely before I leave for training." Gaara said softly before giving her a gentle hug which surprised Temari since her family wasn't exactly an affectionate one.

"I'll try my best, but no guarantees." Temari responded playfully in an attempt to lighten the mood.

To this Gaara smiled, waved, and walked out of their barn. A few minutes later Temari was leading a fully tacked Midnight out of the barn and saw Shikamaru and Sasuke walking up to her.

"So I see you're heading out." Shikamaru said

"Way to use your powers of observation." Temari said with a smirk on her face.

"Awesome aren't they?" Shikamaru replied smugly

"Anyways, moving on, we just wanted to stop by to wish you luck on your mission." Sasuke said with a worried look on his face as he tried hard to not ask her to decline the mission or request and even demand that he go along to be of protection to her should she need it. He knew that she would never accept his offer and would be even offended that he thought that she might need his help. How he wished at times that she needed his help and that he could prove to her that he was worthy of her love intentions and not be considered to be nothing more than the brotherly friend.

"Aw you guys are sweet. I'll see you when I get back tomorrow." Temari replied as she quickly let go of Midnight, hugged the two of them and then mounted Midnight and rode off.

The ride to the next village over was a half-day's journey and it required the traveler to go through the forest which filled Temari with joy as she enjoyed feeling the wind caress her face as it came down from the tops of the trees bringing the intoxicating smell of pine as she passed them. The trip was a relaxing and fun one for her as she enjoyed getting out of the confines of the village and that she was able to enjoy the solitude of nature without being watched by the villagers wherever she went. It was fun to be completely on her own without her two shadows close by. She was surprised but happy that Sasuke had not tried to force himself into this journey. He was her most favorite friend and she felt that she could be developing a crush on him, which made her blush slightly as she thought about this prospect. A few hours later after semi daydreaming and fully enjoying the peace and tranquility of her journey, Temari arrived at her destination more refreshed and energized than she thought possible after so many hours in the saddle. She made her way over immediately to the weapons master to pick up the finished order so that she would have as much time as possible to spend with her Nana. Temari entered the Master's shop.

"Hello, is anyone in here?" Temari called out

"Ahhh, hey there Temari" said a friendly voice that belonged to a muscular middle aged man with brown eyes and short black hair.

"Hi Daniel, how's your family? Temari asked him politely

"Good, good, Nate just started his squire training and John is going to start his apprenticeship with me in a few weeks." Daniel said with a wide smile on his face

"That's good to hear." Temari replied as she and Daniel began putting the weaponry into Midnight's saddlebags.

"Yup, I'm so proud of them. So how are things with you?" Daniel asked

"Also good, I'm almost done with my training. In a few months I shall be a full-fledged knight." Temari replied excitedly

"Well congratulations! I bet your brothers are proud that there will be another talented knight in the Sabaku household" Daniel said

"More like dismayed, and anxious." Temari replied

"Oh right they are rather protective of their younger sister aren't they?" Daniel asked with a knowing smile as he finished putting the last saber into Midnight's saddle bag.

"That would be an understatement." Temari replied as she took hold of Midnight's reins and began walking towards her "Nana's" house after saying farewell to Daniel.

Ten minutes later Temari arrived at her Nana's house and knocked on her door. The door swung open to reveal a middle aged woman with green eyes and greying jet black hair.

"Ahhh, Temari what a wonderful surprise!" Nana said warmly as she embraced Temari.

"Hi Nana!" Temari replied back in a happy tone

"So what brings you here?" Nana asked

"Oh, I am just on a mission in the area and I thought I'd drop by." Temari said

"Well do come in!" Nana replied, and after a few hours of laughing at gossip and getting caught up on the news and enjoying girl talk, Nana looked up at her clock on the mantel piece

"Oh my is it really that late?" Nana asked.

"Yes it appears that way.. why, do you have to be someplace?" Temari asked curiously and slightly disappointed that her trip away from home was being cut short by this turn of events.

"Unfortunately yes, and I'm sorry, but I have to head out and I'm not coming back for a few days." Nana replied sadly " and I know that your schedule is too busy to be able to wait for my return or else you could stay here." Nana continued

"You are right I can't afford to take more time off with my exams so close and the pressure of doing well lies heavily upon me so it is best that I also leave." said Temari

"Are you sure? You should spend at least one night here and leave during the daylight hours." Nana said

"It's okay I could perhaps accompany you to your destination and then continue on to my village, so where are you heading off to?" Temari asked.

"My friend's daughter is going to give birth any day now, and since I'm their midwife they asked me to spend a few days with them until the baby arrives." Nana replied.

"Well then I guess you and I should get going." Temari said as she stood up from her chair and put on her red cloak.

"Yes, but won't you stay at an inn somewhere once you drop me off since it is already 8:40 in the evening?" Nana asked in a worried tone

"Na, it's okay I don't mind riding through the forest at night." Temari replied as the two women exited the cottage and Temari started to untie Midnight

"Well okay, but be careful! You know there are wolves out there and after I am not there with you, you might be an easier target being all alone." Nana said in a concerned manner.

The two set off for an easy hour ride until they arrived at Nana's destination which was a small house set off alone in a clearing near the beginning of the forest and the house was filled to the gills with laughing family members all preparing for the arrival of the newest member. She was offered lodging for the night but with all the commotion Temari was eager to leave and head for home despite Nana's continued protests and threats of the wolves.

"I know, but I'm sure I'll be fine." Temari said with an assuring smile before embracing Nana and mounting midnight once more.

"Promise me you'll write when you return home so that I know you're safe." Nana said sternly

"I promise." Temari replied before riding away into the forest.

Since Midnight's saddle bags were heavy Temari didn't want to gallop Midnight through the uneven terrain in the dark forest. So she settled for a brisk walk and happily surveyed her surroundings. To her the world seemed much more peaceful at night and she was happy to be able to experience this peace in silence. However, the peace it seemed was to be short lived as all of a sudden Midnight's ears pricked up in alert and his body tensed beneath Temari. Temari immediately became hyper aware of her surroundings as a feeling of un-natural uneasiness spread throughout her body. Without a warning a stag raced past them in a panic as if being chased causing Midnight to startle and take off after the stag…were there sounds of paws hitting the earth behind them Temari wondered to herself or were here nerves causing her to hallucinate? No, this was no hallucination as Temari strained her senses.. there was the sound of paws hitting the ground behind them and these paws were gaining ground on them. Temari tried to stay calm, just by listening to their pursuer Temari knew that it was a single male wolf coming up from behind them. Luckily for her Temari knew that Midnight could out run the wolf as she and Midnight began to pace the stag. What she didn't count on was for this wolf to come lunging towards the stag by jumping across their path. Temari just had time to register a black mass out of the corner of her eye as it suddenly came sailing through the air from the side which nearly hit them as it crossed their path in mid- air. This black mass was a wolf that caught the stag by the throat. In panic Midnight reared up in fright and in defense. Unfortunately, Temari was unprepared for Midnight to rear up and as he did she fell off of him and landed hard on the ground. This impact caused her to hit her head against a rock. Just as she was about to black out Temari saw Midnight disappearing in the distance and the black wolf advance on her his red and black eyes shining in the moonlight "_oh well I guess I broke my promise".._ Temari thought to herself as she faded to unconsciousness.

A/N: Hi Everyone! ^-^ I am soo sorry that it has taken me this long to update the next chapter! School and life have caused me to be extremely busy but I hope to start updating on a more frequent basis. Anyways I want to thank my readers and or reviewers you guys are amazing and I really appreciate your support! I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter!Like always reviews are welcomed and appreciated but please no flames.

-Midnight Oracle


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series or any of its characters *Sniffles*

Wolf Moon Chapter 5 

Itachi decided to start his search for this "Temari Sabaku" in the town closest to his location. After morphing into his wolf form Itachi ran for an hour and a half until he reached his destination. Cautiously Itachi hid behind a cluster of trees and morphed into his human form, to ensure that a regular human wouldn't walk by and cry wolf. A few moments later Itachi entered the village through a back alley, closed his eyes and scented the air. Many scents filled his nostrils cinnamon buns being baked in the bakery to his right, the sharp tang of melting metal, the musky scent of the sweating horses, and finally and very familiar and welcomed scent hit him. It belonged to the strange girl who had been watching him and his pack mates in the trees. Itachi's eyes flew open as he looked around to see if he could locate her. A few seconds later Itachi spotted her talking to a weapons smith. Itachi quickly slipped into the next alley way closest to them and focused his keen hearing on them and began listening to their conversation.

"Also good, I'm almost done with my training. In a few months I shall be a full-fledged knight." the mysterious girl said excitedly

"Well congratulations! I bet your brothers are proud that there will be another talented knight in the Sabaku household" replied the weapons smith.

Upon hearing this a corner of Itachi's mouth twitched upward in a half smirk _I found you Temari Sabaku, things just got a whole lot more interesting _Itachi thought to himself as he watched her mount her horse and ride to her next destination. Turing around Itachi made his way back into the forest and morphed back into his wolf form since his senses were sharper in this form and carefully stalked Temari to her next location. Now Itachi prided himself on being a patient person but after a few hours of silently sitting on his haunches by a tree near the living room window of the small cottage and listening periodically in on boring female chatter his limbs ached painfully from the lack of movement and his stomach began to growl it's demand for food. The sudden snap of a branch caused Itachi's head to snap and focus his attention on a heard of deer passing by him. The deer froze when they spotted him and began to race away, Itachi looked back at the cottage _She'll probably still be there when I get back, and if not I can always track her scent_ he thought to himself as he gave chase to a young stag. As Itachi ran he felt the pleasant sensation of his muscles stretching, the wind combing through his fur, the tangy scent of fear rolling off of the deer that hit his nostrils which was growing stronger as he drew closer to the stag. The chase had been longer than he had expected as this stag was a strong, powerful, and surprisingly quick one. Finally, seeing his opportunity to bring down his prey Itachi lunged for the stag. What he didn't expect was to cross paths with Temari. As he tore into his kill and tasted the iron tang of blood that leaked from the wounds he inflicted Itachi watched as Temari was thrown from her stead. Itachi dropped his kill and cautiously began walking towards Temari while peering into her alluring and dazed green eyes before they closed and she went limp as her body succumbed to unconsciousness.

_Ugh my head _Temari thought to herself as she slowly began to regain consciousness. Temari groaned to inwardly as a dull and painful throbbing sensation filled her senses. Temari reached up to place a hand on her head only to feel an unfamiliar and soft cloth on her body. Temari's eyes flew open as she sat up quickly to survey her surrounding despite her body's protest. Upon looking down Temari saw an unfamiliar black cloak draped over her, cautiously Temari observed her surroundings. In front of her was a smoldering fire, ground fog gave the atmosphere a sense of mystery. Suddenly a twig snapped and footsteps could be heard advancing towards her. Thinking fast Temari reached for the dagger that she kept strapped to her outer right thigh. Her eyes widened when she felt the empty holster and she began to look around for it frantically. Her pulse raced as she felt her adrenalin pump go into over drive as she searched for her weapon. Her breathing was quiet and quick, and her muscles were tightening up ready for a fight to ensue should she have to use her fighting skills should she not be able to find her dagger in time. Had the stranger whose footsteps she could hear approaching her taken it? She felt anger begin to boil up in her and her body began to tense even more, only until her eyes landed upon a flash of silver beside her did she allow herself to breathe out a sigh of relief. Temari grabbed her weapon and faced the direction of the person walking towards her

"Look whoever you are, I am a knight of the order of the three moons and I swear if you come one step closer I will cut you to ribbons!" Temari said with a fierce determination and with the anger that still cursed through her body, as a stranger dressed in a black tunic and black trousers walked towards her carrying a bundle of wood which he placed by the fire. The late afternoon sunlight hit his face and gleamed in his jet black hair. But what caught Temari's attention the most were his eyes…they were the most remarkable shades of crimson and ebony.

"Oh good you're up. You had me worried there for a while." the stranger said with a smooth velvety voice.

"How long was I out?" Temari asked the mysterious stranger.

"A good 10 hours." He replied "You're lucky I found you, rumor has it there are wolves out here in the forest. I'd hate to see a young woman such as yourself fall victim to one of those big bad wolves." the stranger continued with what could have been a hint of amusement to his tone.

"They wouldn't hurt me." Temari said defensively

"How can you be so sure?" The stranger asked intrigued

"I can't, but I just…never mind it's stupid just forget I said anything." Temari said feverishly as the stranger gave her an amused look before getting up and walking towards her.

"What are you doing?" Temari asked as her body tensed with hyper vigilance

"The cut on your forehead has reopened and I'm just going to take another quick look at It." the stranger replied

"Okay, did you see what happened?" Temari asked as she let her body relax slightly and set the dagger down next to her.

"Not really, I just happened to be on the path when what I presume was your horse flew by me in a state of panic rider less and so I retraced my steps looking for the fallen rider, and then I came upon you. I found you down and out with only a few paw prints leading away from you." The stranger replied

"See I told you the wolf didn't want to hurt me." Temari said triumphantly

"So you did." the stranger replied with an amused smirk as he tenderly held her chin in one had while his other lightly flittered around the shallow cut on her forehead where she must have hit it against a rock.

Temari briefly let her eyes scan over her "rescuers" face _he's kind of _cute she thought to herself as she felt her heart beat increase and her body temperature rise as a blush was trying to fight its way to the surface of her cheeks. _What am I saying! He's a complete stranger and I can't let my guard down around him. If anything were to happen I'd never be able to live it down._Temari mentally chided herself, she needed to be strong and not begin to give in to the side of her which was beginning to crush on him.

"Here is the good news, it's a shallow cut. The bad news is that you may have a slight concussion." The stranger said interrupting Temari's internal mental warfare.

"So I'll live then?" Temari asked with a smirk on her face

"Yes, it appears to be that way." he replied as he backed away from her.

"So you said you saw my horse pass you…" Temari began before she was interrupted by the stranger

"I took the liberty of catching your horse for you , which wasn't all that difficult since he was coming back for you anyways , and of tying him to a fallen log near the stream a little ways down the hill that we're on" he replied

"Thanks for that…" Temari said leaving a slight pause at the end of her sentence for him to state his name

"No problem." he replied

"You know that subtle pause at the end of my sentence was for you to fill it with your name stranger." Temari said feistily

"Was it now?" the stranger replied with a smug expression on his face

"Yes, otherwise you'll force me to have to come up with a nickname for you." Temari replied

"Really now? Now I'm intrigued what sort of a nickname would you have in mind?" the stranger asked amused

"Like either prince charming or weasel." Temari replied slightly annoyed now.

"Why those two?" the stranger asked

"Well prince charming because you "rescued" me or weasel because you keep trying to weasel your way out of telling me your name." Temari replied to which her answer received a chuckle

"Well those two seem like logical nicknames, though I can't help but notice the sarcasm in your voice when you said that I rescued you." the stranger replied

"Well now Weasel, it's because you didn't actually save me from the 'big bad wolf' now did you?" Temari said snipingly

"You have a point…. Itachi" the stranger replied his tone laced with a trace of mirth

"Of course I do Weasel, and bless you." Temari said teasingly

"No Itachi …that's my name stranger." Itachi replied

"Really now?" Temari asked cockily "….then I picked an accurate nickname did I not weasel?" As she broke out in a laugh that filled the air like a _joyous melody_, Itachi thought..

"Yup, so are you going to reveal your name to me or am I going to have to come up with some nicknames for you?" Itachi asked

"Hmm" Temari replied while acting as if that was a life or death question

"that's a tough decision, how about we see how creative you are in coming up with nicknames." Temari continued

"Well now there's damsel in distress, and wolf girl." Itachi replied

"How original..." Temari replied annoyed at the thought that he might actually consider her to be a damsel in distress. Perhaps he was attracted to those kind of girlie girls which made her even more annoyed with him..

"That may be but I don't feel like I need to explain the reasoning behind the nicknames or would you rather I gain the privilege of uncovering your name?" Itachi asked her

"I guess not, even though I do like wolf girl it has a certain ring to it." Temari replied and thought to herself _..anything but damsel in distress…_

"My name's Temari." Temari finished

"That's a pretty name." Itachi said

"Thanks…" Temari replied with a small smile on her face and her annoyance towards him was gone.

"Well I guess I better get going. My brothers may send out our cavalry if I don't come home soon." Temari said while looking at the sun's position in the sky.

"Well we wouldn't want that now would we?" Itachi said amused as Temari slowly got herself to her feet

"No, we wouldn't." She replied as she fastened her cloak around her neck, and handed Itachi his cloak back.

"Thanks for everything Itachi." Temari replied as she gave him a wave goodbye and walked toward her horse once she spotted him.

"No problem Temari may our paths cross again sometime." Itachi said as he waved back to her.

Temari took a little while longer than usual to reorganize everything on Midnight and then once she re-mounted him she walked Midnight by the spot where she and Itachi had been a little while ago only to find it deserted and the fire put out. A slight feeling of disappointment spread throughout Temari's body as she turned Midnight towards the direction of her village not noticing the fresh wolf prints that lead away from the temporary camp site.

A/N: Hey Everyone! ^-^ I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter. I want to once again thank all my readers and or reviewers for your wonderful support! As always reviews are greatly appreciated but please no flames.

-Midnight Oracle


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series or any of its characters *sniffles*

Wolf Moon Ch.6 

As Itachi watched Temari mount her steed he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed but quickly tried to shake that feeling off. He watched her from behind a small grove of trees as she guided her horse to where they had previously been. He studied her expression closely and was amused by the same look of disappointment that he had felt a few moments earlier. Itachi was also amused and relieved at the fact that she didn't seem to notice his tracks. As Temari began to steer her stead homeward bound Itachi slowly slinked after her careful to stay silent and in the shadows. As he stalked her, Itachi began to review their first encounter over in his mind. He inwardly smiled to himself as he recalled how her heart beat picked up every time he drew near, her pheromones that called to him, the way she tried to fight the blush that had begun to paint her cheeks, her spunky spirit, and the feisty spark in her alluring eyes. Not too much later Itachi watched as Temari rode out of the forest path and down to her village where he could see a crowd of people waiting expectedly. After watching her for a few moments longer Itachi turned and ran for something had suddenly dawned on him. When Itachi returned to their temporary campsite he saw a flash of silver glinting up to him from the ground. After quickly morphing back into his human form, Itachi walked up to the shining object and picked up Temari's dagger from the ground. Itachi had a feeling that once Temari realizes its absence would come back for it , and with a feeling of unfamiliar happiness and anticipation Itachi chuckled and began to formulate a plan in his head on how to get even closer to his target.

On the trail back to her village Temari felt dazed by what had just happened between she and Itachi. _He's a stranger! I probably won't ever see him again, and that's fine by me._ Temari lied to herself and she felt annoyed by the fact that she did want to see him at least one last time. As Temari drew nearer to her village she couldn't help but feel that she was being followed but every time she looked around and behind her she saw nothing and internally chided herself for being so paranoid. When Temari reached her village she had to internally suppress a groan of irritation as she saw her brothers and Sasuke saddling up their horses. _Wow I'm not that late and they are already organizing a search and rescue party. _Temari thought to herself as she watched her bothers tense faces relax when they landed on her and immediately began to unsaddle their horses. Temari felt a headache coming on from the oncoming interrogation that she suspected her brothers were going to put her through. Temari placed her hand on her head and winced as she felt the cut sting beneath her hand. _Oh no if they see this they will be become even more paranoid and over protective! Hopefully my bangs cover it enough. _ Temari though to herself as she halted Midnight and dismounted in front of her family and friend.

"You're late." Kankuro said trying to hide his irritation.

"I know, I'm sorry." Temari said through clenched teeth for she hated being treated like a little kid.

"We were worried." Gaara said calmly.

"Really, I couldn't tell." Temari replied cheekily.

"Why were you so late?" Kankuro demanded questioningly as he felt his temper getting the best of him.

"I stopped to see Nana." Temari answered irritated.

"I'm glad you are home." Sasuke interrupted trying to break the tension that had begun to stir in the air around them. Temari turned to face him with a genuine smile before replying

"I'm glad to be home as well, now if you don't mind I'm going to give these new swords to Tsunade and tell her that I'm back." As she turned toward the direction Tsunade's office a breeze gently moved her bangs to reveal the cut.

"Temari, what's that on your forehead?" Gaara demanded

_Oh crap so much for that._ Temari thought to herself as she looked at her brother "I had a clumsy moment and yeah." she replied lamely.

"I know for a FACT that you are not clumsy, so how did you get that cut? Come on out with it!" Kankuro said frustrated with how Temari was behaving.

Now Temari seeing no other way out of this "discussion" decided to do something that she hated, she acted like a damsel in distress and looked at her brother with a pained expression took a step toward them and pretended like she was going to faint.

"Oww my head, it hurts so much Gaara." Temari said pained while making sure she looked pathetic.

Gaara immediately lunged forward to support her "Kankuro lets take her home, let her rest, get her wound looked at and then we'll discuss this topic farther." Gaara said worriedly to which Kankuro nodded his head in agreement.

"You go and take Temari home; I'll check in with Lady Tsunade and put Midnight away." Kankuro said as he took Midnight's reins from Temari and began walking towards Tsunade's office.

As Temari was being led towards home she caught Sasuke's worried eyes, winked and smiled smugly at him. To which Sasuke's worried expression turned into one of amusement.

Later that evening after a long rest of the day of being worried over by her brothers Temari started to get ready for bed and as she felt her empty dagger holster Temari felt her eyes widen as a sure of panic spread through her veins. Frantically she searched everywhere only to realize that she left it in the forest by accident. Temari felt annoyed with herself for getting so distracted and knew that she wouldn't be able to rest until the dagger was back with her and she knew that if her brothers found out her dagger was gone then they would begin the interrogation process once more. So with an internal deep sigh Temari cautiously left her room to make sure her brothers were fast asleep. Once she confirmed that they were Temari grabbed her red cloak and silently slipped outside. Temari grabbed Midnight and began to cautiously make her way to the forest path, yet as she was about to leave the village she heard a familiar voice reach her ears

"And where do you think you are going?" it asked as Temari turned to face Sasuke.

"Out" Temari replied noncommittally trying to hide the look of surprise on her face.

"You know you aren't supposed to be leaving the village unaccompanied." Sasuke said smugly

"I know, but I left something and I need to get it and slip back into the house before my brothers wake up, find me gone and then have a cow, a chicken, and then the whole rest of the damn barn." Temari said with a sense of stern playfulness.

Sasuke smiled at her playfully "Alright, alright, but at least let me come with you." Sasuke said insistently.

"Nah, that's okay. I know where I left it and it would be faster if I just rode there got it and then came back. Plus if my brothers do find me gone I'll need you to cover for me. I also happen to know that you are on night patrol and can't leave." Temari replied.

Sasuke sighed in mock defeat before playfully saying "Fine, you got me. But hurry back and this time; try not to get yourself injured again."

To this Temari mounted Midnight looked at Sasuke, stuck her tongue out at him and galloped away into that darkness of the forest.

A/N: Hi Everyone! ^-^ I am soooooo sorry that I haven't updated in ages! School has kept me busy along with some family emergencies. Anyways as always I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter! I appreciate all the support that I have been given by my readers and reviewers! ^-^ Remember reviews are greatly appreciated, just please no flames!

-Midnight Oracle


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own the Naruto series any way *Sniffles*.

Wolf Moon Chapter 7 

The forest was peaceful as Temari guided Midnight along the path. Temari did feel kind of bad for making Sasuke stay in the village, but she secretly hoped to run into Itachi and she knew that if Sasuke were ever to find out about Itachi he would either use that information as blackmail, become the protective best friend, and or would never let her forget about how careless she had been. Then she would have to deal with his taunts and her brothers acting even more paranoid than ever. _Who am I kidding I bet Weasel is already miles away…not that I care of course. _Temari thought to herself. It didn't take very long until Temari saw the grove of trees on top of the hill where she had first met weasel. She trotted up the hill and looked around only to have her eyes land on a familiar face.

"Well if it isn't wolf girl? Miss me?" asked a smug voice.

Temari rolled her eyes as she took in Itachi's expectant expression. Internally Temari's heart began racing with excitement which slightly irritated her with how he seemed to affect her.

"I hate to burst your egotistical bubble but no, I did not miss you." Temari replied annoyed.

"Well, that's a shame. So what are you doing out here in the big bad forest in the middle of the night?" Itachi asked her curiously.

"What are you my father? I felt like it, so I did." Temari replied flippantly as she tried to sneakily check the surroundings for her beloved dagger. Temari felt her irritation grow the longer that she could not find her treasured dagger and she found herself longing to stab Itachi with her dagger as his face showed signs of amusement at her expense.

"Ah I see, well I had found something that I thought you might be looking for but if you are just out on a leisurely ride well, then never mind." Itachi said feigning disinterest as he produced Temari's dagger from his back pocket and began twirling it in his hand.

Temari looked at her dagger in Itachi's hand _damn!_ was all Temari's mind managed to think. Itachi noticed Temari's intent stare on the dagger.

"Pretty isn't it, I found it lying here and well I guess since it isn't yours then…"Itachi began only to be interrupted by Temari

"It's mine." Temari said through gritted teeth.

"Really now? I thought your sole purpose was to relax and not look for a lost weapon. I mean a knight without a weapon is kind of sad isn't it?" Itachi mocked

"Well I lied, so give it back." Temari half snarled

"Oh Temari don't you know that lying to people is bad." Itachi said clearly amused.

"Someone might have mentioned that at some point in my life, but right now to be quite frank I don't give a damn. Give me back my dagger." Temari said irritated.

"tsk, tsk Temari swearing is bad. If you want your dagger dismount your horse and come and get it from me." Itachi said triumphantly.

"Fine, I will." Temari huffed as she dismounted all the while her mind was screaming at her: _Are you insane? He is armed, you are not! If he attacks now you can't ride away. Let me ask you something why can't you run away? Oh yeah that's right you dismounted your steed!_

Temari walked up to Itachi put one hand on her hip and the other one she stretched out in order to receive her knife.

"There, happy now? May I have my dagger back?" Temari asked feistily

"Well in chronological order that would be yes, and maybe." Itachi replied wittily.

_Oh for heaven sakes!_ Temari thought to herself angrily as her patients had run out completely and she lunged for her dagger in Itachi's hand. Itachi had not anticipated this and was then slammed into and knocked off the rock upon which he had been perched precariously a few moments earlier. Temari's lunge was strong enough to knock the both of them onto the forest floor and as she was now reaching for the dagger that Itachi held out of her reach, she let out a startled yelp as Itachi flipped them over and held Temari's hands above her head in one hand and the dagger in the other.

"You know, I think I like this position." Itachi said playfully.

"Screw you! Give me my knife back you perverted ass." Temari growled at him.

"Aww Temari your words wound me." Itachi said feigning hurt before continuing "Alright, I'll give you your knife back under one condition."

"And what would that be pray tell." Temari asked cautiously.

"Meet me here again tomorrow, same time and I will freely return your beloved dagger to you and if you don't well, you know the saying finders keepers…" Itachi replied.

"Fine, now let me up." Temari snapped.

"As you wish my lady." Itachi said obligingly and sarcastically while standing up and offering a hand to help Temari up which she slapped away and got herself up.

"Well, I'll be seeing you." Itachi said as he began walking away from an annoyed Temari.

Once he was gone Temari kicked a pebble out of frustration and mounted Midnight once more. _Damn him!_ Temari thought to herself. As she began to ride back to the village Temari began to question why she didn't just attack him when he had his back turned to her, or why she didn't just knee him in the crotch when he had her pinned. _Maybe it's because I do want to see that jackass again. _Temari thought to herself before quickly trying to shake that thought out of her mind. _No, that can't be it! Tomorrow I will just go, get my dagger, beat his ass and then go home. Easy peasy._ Temari said to herself convincingly. As she rode back into the city slightly relieved that Sasuke wasn't sitting on the post he had been on earlier yet slightly saddened for she wanted someone to take her mind off of Itachi before she brought Midnight back to the barn. After dismounting, and taking care of Midnight Temari snuck back upstairs and got ready for bed. As she lay down all Temari could think of was: _what have I done?_

Outside of the village a wolf stood under the moon's pale light. His blue eyes glinted in amusement for unbeknownst to either Itachi or Temari a wolf he had been observing them. Suddenly the brush beside him rustled as another wolf, with which he had been on another assignment with, emerged.

"Let's get back to the base." The wolf with blue eyes said as he turned toward the direction of the base.

"Tobi is coming sempi, for Tobi is a good boy." Tobi replied energetically as he bounded after his sempi.

A/N: Hi Everyone! ^-^ First off I want to thank my fantastic readers and reviewers for all of your support! It is greatly appreciated! As always I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter. Remember reviews are greatly appreciated but please no flames.

-Midnight Oracle


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series in anyway shape or form *sniffles*.

Wolf Moon Chapter 8

Itachi watched Temari ride towards the direction of her village from the cover some redwood trees and smiling morphed into his wolf form and slowly trotted his way back towards the base. As he walked he began to mull over what had just happened. He had been a little worried at first that she wasn't going to show up and when she did he felt a strange surge of happiness. Images of them wrestling flew through his mind which caused his heart rate to elevate a bit. _What a strange affect she has on me_ Itachi thought to himself as he reached the base. Before Itachi made it through the opening he heard a voice call out to him

"So the emotionally challenged has some emotions after all huh un?" Itachi turned to face a blonde male with blue eyes, a toned body and an amused smirk painted across his face. Itachi inwardly sighed as he morphed back into his human form.

"I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about Deidara." Itachi replied in his usual monotone voice.

"Oh really, so you weren't spending the past hour or so with a certain blonde in a red cape un?" Deidara asked.

"You've been following me." Itachi stated slightly annoyed.

"I just wanted to see is my buddy found his target yet un." Deidara replied feigning innocence.

"Well as you saw I found her." Itachi said suspiciously.

"Yep, and may I say congrats un, she's a hottie un." Deidara replied with an amused tone.

" I guess, now if you'll excuse me I have to check in with our Alpha." Itachi said with a guarded expression.

"See you around un." Deidara said in a smug tone before morphing into his wolf form and bounding off.

Itachi watched Deidara bound off with a weary expression on his face which he instantly hid and walked in through the cave opening to his Alpha's headquarter. Itachi was about to knock when he heard a deep voice call him.

"Come in Itachi I've been expecting you." Pein said coldly. Itachi walked in and showed his neck to his alpha as a sign of respect.

"So I take it you've found her." Pein stated expectantly.

"Yes." Itachi replied in a monotone voice.

"Good, good. Have you interacted with her yet?" Pein asked.

"Yes." Itachi replied.

"Excellent, as you know I need her to trust you and then have you convince her to join our forces. We'll need all the help we can get when the final battle begins." Pein said intently.

"I know." Itachi replied.

"When do you meet with her next?" Pein demanded.

"Tomorrow evening." Itachi replied patiently.

"Excellent, I'm counting on you Itachi. You're dismissed." Pein stated warningly.

Itachi didn't reply he just nodded and left Pein's office. As he turned around he came face to face with Tobi.

"Tobi hears that Itachi has a girlfriend, Tobi is happy for Itachi sempi." Tobi said cheerfully.

"Whoa Itachi you have a girlfriend?!" Kisame asked shocked as he approached his friend.

"No, she's just my target." Itachi replied trying to keep his feelings of annoyance from being displayed.

"But Tobi saw you flirt and show emotion Itachi sempi!" Tobi said insistently.

"YOU SHOWED EMOTION! YOU NEVER SHOW EMOTION!" Kisame shouted excitedly.

Itachi just glared at the both of them before replying in an icy tone that made the two of them flinch "She is my target nothing more, and nothing less." and after having said that Itachi brushed past them to go to his room to rest for the night.

"She really must be something, since Itachi usually doesn't even display that much emotion." Kisame said to which Tobi nodded his head in agreement.

Back in Itachi's room Itachi let his stony façade drop as he smiled to himself. Temari was a special girl, so different from the ones he knew in the past. Maybe one day she might end up being with him. That thought sent a warm tingle throughout his body. Itachi smirked to himself as he thought of all of his interactions with Temari over the past few days. With that in mind Itachi lay himself down on his bed and fell into a deep and blissful sleep.

"Wake up sleepy head!" Temari groaned as she heard her brother Kankuro's yell and knock on the door. "5 more minutes!" Temari yelled back.

"No. Now, Shikamaru and Sasuke are already downstairs." Kankuro yelled once again.

_Oh crap!_ Temari thought to herself as she flung herself out of bed and scrambled around trying to quickly get ready. Within a few minutes Temari came flying down the staircase her red cloak billowing out behind her.

"Well it's about time." Shikamaru said in a bored tone.

"Get enough time for your beauty sleep?" Sasuke asked in a knowing and smug tone to which Temari stuck her tongue out at him.

"Why yes I did, thank you very much." Temari replied cheekily.

"Morning Mari." Gaara said sternly calling her by her nickname while handing her breakfast.

"Morning sunshine." Temari replied before eating it which caused Kankuro to snigger a bit in the background. But then stopped when Gaara glared at him.

"So what's on the agenda today?" Kankuro asked.

"Well, knights training and maybe a few short 2 hour missions." Sasuke replied.

"Have her home by 10:30pm, 11:00pm at the latest." Kankuro stated cheerfully.

"If you're late you know the consequences." Gaara said as he sharpened his own dagger on the kitchen table.

"Oh so dramatic, come on guys let's go." Temari said annoyed.

"Bye dearest sister!" Kankuro called out in a fake cheerful tone to which Temari stuck her tongue out at him which caused him to chuckle a bit.

"She's feisty that sister of ours." Kankuro said amused.

"A little too feisty for my liking." Gaara replied with a frown.

To this Kankuro just shrugged and clasped Gaara on the back and said "come on, we don't want to be late for our scouting duties."

"So did you get your dagger back?" Sasuke asked Temari.

"um not quite, but I will." Temari replied.

"You lost your dagger?" Shikamaru asked slightly surprised since Temari NEVER lost anything.

"What do you mean not quite?" Sasuke asked.

"Well Nana wasn't home and.." Temari started only to be cut off by Sasuke again.

"You went all the way back there?!" Sasuke asked in disbelief.

"Why did you leave your dagger there?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yes, why?" Temari asked getting irritated.

"GUYS QUITE IGNORING MY QUESTIONS!" Shikamaru yelled out frustratedly.

"Sorry…" both Sasuke and Temari said embarrassed.

"It's okay." Shikamaru replied in his normal bored tone, tired from expending that much energy from yelling.

"Hi guys ready to train?" Sir Kakashi asked

"I guess." The three of them replied simultaneously.

After a long day of training and some missions Temari was dutifully escorted back to the Sabaku household. Upon coming home Temari found a note on the kitchen table that read: Temari, we were called out on an assignment. We'll be back tomorrow. Don't do anything that you'll regret! Love, Kankuro and Gaara. Temari sighed in relief this made tonight's expedition much easier with not having to try and sneak out. Around 11:30pm Temari bundled herself up in her red cape, mounted Midnight and trotted into the forest unseen. As she was riding all Temari couldn't help but feel a little excited to see Weasel again. _Let's hope this wasn't a big mistake. _Temari thought to herself as she urged Midnight into a canter down the moonlit path.

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A/N: Hi Everyone! ^-^ I'm sooooo sorry for the lack of updates I have been very busy at my summer music academy as well as with some family drama. Now that things have calmed down a bit I hope to update more frequently. I have also decided that the more reviews I get the faster I update. For those who have been reviewing I thank you! You guys help keep me inspired to write. Reviews are greatly appreciated! Thank you for taking the time to read this! Until the next chapter,

-Midnight Oracle ^-^


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series in any way shape or form *Sniffles*.

Wolf Moon Chapter 9 

The moon shone brightly with its glow upon the forest floor making the shadows stand out more distinctly as Temari's horse cantered down the path. Everything was peaceful, the trees swayed in the breeze, the occasional deer or owl allowed themselves to be seen. Temari heard the wind whisper past her ears as she urged Midnight on. This atmosphere of the forest was one reason why she loved this forest, everything seemed so harmonious, quiet, and magical. Suddenly Temari saw a figure in the clearing up ahead so she cautiously brought Midnight to a trot and then a fast walk until she got close enough to see who was blocking her path. There in all of his arrogant glory stood Weasel. Temari's heart beat a little faster as she halted Midnight in front of him.

"Well wolf girl, glad you could make it. I was beginning to think you weren't going to show." Itachi stated with a smirk adorning his features.

"Whatever Weasel, I just came for the sake of getting back my personal property." Temari replied nonchalantly.

"Aww and here I thought you came because you wanted to see me again." Itachi said feigning disappointment.

"Sorry to disappoint you. Now I'm here so give me back my dagger." Temari replied getting a little annoyed.

"Not yet, first let's get a little more acquainted. After all I did tend to your wounds and found the dagger that YOU forgot. I think you owe me at least that much." Itachi said smugly

"What do you want a medal? Yes you saved me , bravo. You found my lost dagger again bravo. You have your chivalry points for the week. Now just hand me back my dagger and then I MIGHT consider becoming more acquainted with you." Temari demanded feeling fully frustrated now.

To this Itachi cocked an eyebrow before replying "How do I know that once you get your precious dagger back that you won't just run away before we get a chance to talk more. Plus I don't think you're in a position to make these kinds of demands since I have something you want badly enough to meet a stranger in the woods at night alone for."

Temari just glared at him _Damn this isn't going as smoothly as I had hoped. _Temari thought to herself. Temari watched as Itachi walked to the tree closest to him pulled out her dagger and plunged the dagger as high up on the tree as he could get it without having to climb up the tree himself, before he turned back to face her.

"I'll tell you what, if you can get passed me and get your dagger then you are free to leave immediately, you may also ask me five questions to which I have to answer if you want and then we will part ways as unlikely friends never to see each other again. But if I stop you before you reach the dagger than you have to meet me again and you have to answer any five questions I ask you. You have five chances to reach your dagger but if I pin you down five times you lose, you must also fight fair, no cheating what so ever and no weaponry. That will result in an automatic loss, Deal?" Itachi asked confidently

Temari stood for a minute weighing out the pros and cons of the situation. When she beat him she would get her dagger back, possibly some information on this guy, and she would never have to see him again. This was perfect she would have so much fun beating the crap out of him for making her do this stupid task. The only down side was if she lost she would have to see the nut job again and he'd gain more info on her than she had on him. Temari bit her lip as she contemplated this for a moment before looking him dead in the eye and saying

"Deal!"

Itachi grinned knowing fully that she would never have backed down as he readied himself before saying

"Give me your best shot."

And with those words Temari took off her cape, rolling her eyes as she heard Itachi wolf whistle at her and shot forward. Itachi braced himself as Temari tried to get around him by jumping onto the boulder nearest him in an attempt to spring off of that flip over him and run for the tree behind him which contained her dagger. Yet just as she was about to flip over him he jumped up grabbed her legs that she was in the process of curling into and pulled her slightly to the left and downwards which resulted in her crashing down on top of him, knocking the air out of the both of them for a split second before Itachi immediately pinned her.

"Round one goes to me." Itachi stated with a chuckle.

Temari growled at him in response _that's okay I have four more chances. Come on Temari pull yourself together. _Temari thought to herself in an attempt to rally herself.

"You got lucky that time; don't count on it happening again." Temari snarled at him.

Then Temari threw all of her strength into rolling them over so that she was now on top and pinned his arms down.

" You know I kind of like this position" Itachi said with a grin to which Temari gave him a disgusted look before throwing herself forward and using his arms to launch herself upward as she flipped over him and landed on her feet.

"You're quite agile I'll give you that." Itachi said amused as he got up and readied himself again.

Temari launched herself straight at him and tried to round house kick him, but just as her foot was about to collide with his body he swiped his foot under the leg keeping her grounded which forced her to attempt to go into a cartwheel/ flip in order to keep from landing on her back.

"Nice save." Itachi stated entertained

This time Temari launched herself at him and just as she was pretending to go into a roundhouse she swiped the bottom of his feet causing him to fall, which she took as the opportunity to jump over him and just as she was about to hit the ground and start running for the dagger Itachi sprang up grabbed her foot which caused her to land on her stomach and he quickly pulled her towards him and then pinned her down again.

"You know that was kind of clever but to me, it's like you're not even trying." Itachi said with a laugh.

"I still have three more chances." Temari ground out furious.

"You're right and I will love to get to know you better tomorrow night." Itachi said cockily.

Temari managed to bring her legs up to Itachi's neck and slam him down which caused him to fall down hard and the force with which he fell caused him to roll over onto his back. In the meantime Temari scrambled back up and started running for her blade. Suddenly Itachi grabbed her by her wrist and waist which caused Temari to retaliate by bringing her other elbow into his stomach which caused his grip to loosen tremendously but he refused to let go of her. He settled for flinging his leg between her legs which then caused her to trip and they both tumbled to the ground consequently with him on top again. They both looked at each other breathing hard (Temari glared at him).

"Round three is mine." Itachi gloated.

Temari said nothing not wanting to let him mess with her head while she internally panicked. Instead Temari subtly brought her legs to his sides and pushed up and over with all the strength that she could muster causing him to land on his back yet he never released his grip on her. This tactic shocked her so much that she was thrown onto his stomach and then quickly pinned before she could fully realize what was going on.

"I'm afraid round four is mine as well. One more chance wolf girl." Itachi practically purred in her ear and then sat back only long enough to look at her face with a satisfied expression.

_This is not happening! _Temari thought to herself as she started to panic even more.

_Time for a change in tactic._ Temari thought to herself. She knew what she had to do and she wasn't proud of it either but she refused to let him beat her. Quick as a snake Temari kissed Itachi on the mouth which caused his grip to loosen in surprise and she used this to quickly arch up against him, flip him over and pin his hands above his head. Then she straddled his hips so he couldn't use his legs against her like she had when he straddled her stomach. The look of shock on his face made her want to laugh.

"Well that was unexpected." Was all that Itachi could manage to say after he got over his shock.

"It's called the element of surprise." Temari said smugly as she used the two hair ties on her wrists to bind his hands together.

"I didn't know you had a kinky side." Itachi said entertained.

Temari just looked at him with a bored and uninterested expression.

"In your dreams." Temari said hotly before getting off of him and racing to the tree. Her fingers were just about to reach the handle of her dagger when her hands were suddenly pinned together and she was flipped over and was pinned to the tree.

"Game over princess." Itachi whispered in her ear before playfully nipping it.

Temari slumped against him in shock. She was so close, she lost, how could she lose to this guy!

Itachi looked at her saddened and shocked expression "You put up one hell of a fight. I guess this means I'll be seeing you tomorrow." Itachi said as he left go of Temari.

"Yeah I guess." Temari said sadly

Itachi pulled her dagger from the tree and handed it to her. "Here for your efforts, I do believe you to be a woman of your word."

"How do you know that I won't just not show up tomorrow?" Temari asked him seriously

"Because you're a knight and you're bound by the knight's code. Meaning that once you agreed to our little game it would be disgraceful of you to not keep your word. That is a very haunting thought and even though no one else knows about this deal you know and it would haunt you. Plus I know the crest of your village on your saddle blanket and could easily track you down." Itachi said bluntly.

"You are kind of a creeper aren't you?" Temari stated with a smirk

"Only when it comes to getting what I want." Itachi said smugly.

Temari rolled her eyes while secretly trying to fight down the strangest urge to blush at his comment.

"You're creepy Weasel. Sadly I have to get home; I guess I'll be seeing you here tomorrow night." Temari said as she placed her dagger in its holster, put on her cape and mounted Midnight.

Itachi walked up to her took her hand and kissed it before saying "Until tomorrow my fair lady knight." And then walked away leaving a strangely speechless Temari behind.

Temari clasped her hands together still feeling the warmth of Itachi's lips on her hand. "Until tomorrow." Temari managed to whisper into the empty forest around her before trotting Midnight in the direction of home.

She was just about to reach the forest entrance when she saw Sasuke trotting his horse towards her "Where have you been?" Sasuke asked in a demanding manner.

"Out getting my dagger." Temari said cautious of how Sasuke was behaving.

"Do you have it now?" Sasuke asked her suspiciously

"yes…" Temari replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Good, we'd hate to have one of our best female knight's unarmed." Sasuke said with a smirk.

Temari laughed cautiously "Yeah that would be bad." Temari said with a smirk.

"Want me to accompany you home?" Sasuke asked her.

"Why not." Temari said smiling at her friend. And with that Temari urged her horse forward only to realize that Sasuke was staring intently at something behind her.

"Are you coming?" Temari asked him as she strained to see what he was looking at.

Sasuke suddenly turned to look at her with his normal friendly expression "Yep let's go." Sasuke said as he turned around and made his way back to the village with a confused Temari trailing behind him.

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A/N: Hello Everyone! ^-^ First off I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter. Secondly I want to once again thank you all for your awesome support! Reviews are GREATLY appreciated! And remember the more reviews I get the faster I update. Until the next chapter,

-Midnight Oracle ^-^


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series in any way shape or form *Sniffles*.

Wolf Moon Chapter 10 

Temari and Sasuke rode down the path to Temari's cottage in silence until Temari couldn't bear the strange silence between them.

"What were you doing in the forest?" Temari asked Sasuke.

"I'm out on scouting patrol tonight. I saw you slink off into the forest and when you didn't show for a while I decided to go looking for you." Sasuke replied honestly.

Temari felt a little guilty for making Sasuke feel like he had to chase after her. But the expression on his face as he had looked past her in the forest really bothered her. _What did he see?_ Temari asked herself.

"Sorry for making you feel like you had to go after me." Temari apologized.

"That's what friends are for." Sasuke replied with a bit of a smile on his face.

They reached Temari's house and dismounted. Sasuke tied up his horse and helped Temari groom Midnight. Temari couldn't help but notice Sasuke sneaking peeks at her every now and again from the other side of Midnight. _I wonder what he's thinking about so intensely_, she asked herself as she watched Sasuke furrow his brows together and lightly bite his lower lip deep in thought.

"Ummm Sasuke, I think the dirt has been thoroughly brushed out of Midnight's side. If you brush any harder Midnight is going to go bald." Temari said in a teasing manner.

"Hmm..oh sorry. I'm a bit distracted." Sasuke replied sheepishly.

"I could tell. Want to talk about it?" Temari asked.

"Not really." Sasuke replied softly.

"Oh…okay." Temari replied a bit sad that Sasuke would feel that he could not confide in her since Sasuke usually never kept anything from her.

"It's stupid; I'm just a little frustrated that I startled myself by seeing a rabbit move behind you when we were in the forest." Sasuke lied with a fake laugh.

Temari was a little suspicious when he told her this and she was sure that this was not the real reason but she didn't say anything to him about her suspicions since she felt as though she shouldn't pry. He'd tell her when he was good and ready.

"Oh, well don't worry too much about it or you'll go bald from the stress." Temari joked.

To this Sasuke just stuck his tongue out at her playfully. After a few more minutes of grooming, Midnight Temari put her horse in its stall before walking Sasuke up to his horse.

"Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Sasuke said with a smile before hugging Temari and mounting his horse Shadow before riding away from Temari not waiting for her reply.

"Until tomorrow." Temari whispered to herself confused as she watched Sasuke ride away.

_Something is definitely bothering him._ Temari thought to herself as she walked inside her house and went to bed.

_Those eyes..I'd know them anywhere. _Sasuke thought to himself as he perched himself on a boulder near the forest path. _I haven't seen those eyes since…*_**Flash Back**_* _

_**Ten year old Sasuke sat by his mother's side in the living room playing with his toy sword while his father sharpened his dagger next to the roaring fire by the hearth. Sasuke couldn't wait for his older brother Itachi to come home and play knights and bandits again. Sasuke's uncle was helping his wife set the table. Suddenly Sasuke's grandpa came rushing in yelling **_

"_**The …wolves…Itachi…must go save him!"**_

_**Sasuke's mind barely registered what his grandpa said. All he could piece together at that time was that his brother must have been injured by the wolves and that he needed to be saved. Immediately Sasuke sprang up among the men and ran up to his dad. **_

"_**Let me go too! I want to help save Itachi!" Sasuke proclaimed. **_

"_**No. Stay with your mother." Sasuke's father said sternly. **_

"_**That's right. I need my strong little man to protect me." Sasuke's mom said in an attempt to cheer Sasuke up. **_

_**With a nod Sasuke's father and everyone else in the cottage grabbed their arms and ran outside. A few hours passed by and Sasuke fell asleep in his father's chair only to be awoken by an uneasy feeling. Looking around Sasuke went to look for his mom. On the table he saw a note that read: Sasuke, I went to go look for your papa and the others. Stay inside until morning no matter what. Whatever happens I love you! –Mom **_

_**Sasuke felt panic swirl around inside of him as he disobeyed his mother's orders and yanked open the door. Sasuke saw the foot prints of his parents and followed them. In the clearing Sasuke's eyes met a gruesome sight. On the field were his uncles', his aunt, his grandpa, and his dad all completely ripped apart. Suddenly Sasuke heard a rustling to the left and saw his mom rush up to him tears streaking down her face. **_

"_**Sasuke what are you doing here?!" She yelled her eyes wild. **_

_**Sasuke was a little taken aback by his mother's tone. **_

"_**Never mind that now, go back home." Sasuke's mom said sternly. **_

"_**Where's big brother?" Sasuke asked. **_

"_**Go HOME NOW!" Sasuke's mom yelled panicked. **_

_**Sasuke began to run home. Suddenly something knocked him to the ground. Sasuke's head began to pound from being knocked to the ground. He looked up to see what had happened and saw his mom on top of him. **_

"_**I love you…never forget that." She said before going limp. **_

_**Sasuke's rattled mind couldn't process what had happened.. Before his passing out Sasuke saw his big brother being held tightly by two other strange men. Itachi looked at him with a sad look in his crimson eyes before kneeling and letting a wolf bite him and with that last image Sasuke passed out. **_

_**In the morning Sasuke woke up in the village hospital. **_

"_**How are you feeling?" the village nurse asked him. **_

"_**Where is my family?! Are they okay?!" Sasuke asked panicked as images of last night came back to him. **_

"_**Sasuke, I don't know how to tell you this but…your family was killed last night in the line of duty." the nurse said sadly.**_

**Sasuke felt as though the floor beneath him had dropped out. **

**For a few months thereafter Sasuke became stoic and felt numb. He rarely spoke to anyone and he never smiled. All he could think about were those wolves. He was going to become a knight and kill them when he got the chance. **

**A few years later he started knighthood training. This is when he learned about his family's true occupation. Werewolf hunters, they were part of an elite sector of the knights dedicated to keeping human beings safe. Kakashi had pulled him aside after Sasuke had asked how normal wolves could demolish his family like that. To answer his questions Kakashi got special permission from Tsunade to tell Sasuke the truth, the only downfall was that he must not tell anyone that werewolves were real in order to prevent massive paranoia and hysteria and in exchange he would get special lessons to learn how to combat them. Sasuke agreed and began his training. About this same time Sasuke met Temari. She was the first person he would talk to and they bonded quicker than anyone could have expected. She was the light to his darkness and yet she loved those filthy creatures. It pained him to hear her go on and on about them and force him to stay composed. But the more he got to know her the more he needed her. Nothing was going to take her away from him. He became jealous of the wolves and worried whenever she went out. Especially since he knew those damn werewolves were out there. * End of Flash Back***

"Sasuke you ready?" Sir Kakashi asked as he walked towards Sasuke.

"Yes…" Sasuke replied as he tightened his grip on his sword _I'll do whatever I must to keep Temari safe and rid the world of those vermin! I will have my revenge! _Sasuke thought to himself as he followed Kakashi into their training arena.

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A/N: Hello Everyone! ^-^ As always I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter! I want to thank you all for your continued support! You guys are awesome! Remember the more reviews I get the faster I update. Reviews are GREATLY appreciated. Until the next chapter,

-Midnight Oracle ^-^


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series in any way *Sniffles*

Wolf Moon Chapter 11

Itachi had followed Temari silently through the underbrush of the forest as usual. He had come to a halt when his eyes rested upon a familiar pair of eyes _Sasuke _Itachi thought to himself with a slight smile. They stared at each other for a few minutes. It had been years since he'd seen his little brother, but he would never forget those eyes. Itachi watched his little brother interact with Temari. He had felt a sudden surge of possessiveness and jealousy at the fact that his little brother was so familiar with Temari. It shamed Itachi at how ridiculous his feelings were especially since Temari wasn't his mate…yet. Itachi was brought out of his thoughts by the movement of Sasuke and Temari riding back toward the village. A part of him longed to follow but he knew it was safer to remain in the woods for now.

Itachi turned and bounded to his favorite place, the top of a hill that looked out over the village and the valley below. The moon bathed everything in a pale and beautiful light. A few shooting stars raced across the heavens above. Everything looked perfect to him. With a sigh he lowered himself onto the cool grass and rested his muzzle on his paws. Thoughts from his mock battle ran through his mind. The way Temari's heart beat accelerated every time she was pinned against him, and her pheromones flared the most when they kissed. Thinking of the kiss her lips had been so soft and warm. She was fun to tease and adorable when she pouted. Life would never be dull if she was HIS. There were many obstacles he'd have to fight in order to get her to be his and one of them would be his brother especially after he saw the way Sasuke looked at Temari. He could tell that Sasuke could potentially be an obstacle.

_Sasuke it's been a while _Itachi thought with a sad smile _***Flash back* **_

**Itachi had been on patrol when out of nowhere he was ambushed. Four men half morphed stood in front of him. Each of them had their ears lying flat and were glaring at him. Itachi grabbed his sword and jumped off of Shadow and began to fight them. He had been doing well when two more wolves joined the group and one of them had caught him off guard by swiping him in the calf when his claws while his attention was directed toward the other five men. Itachi fell to the ground and was pinned by what was to be his alpha. **

"**What are you waiting for? Kill him!" the only female in the group yelled towards the alpha. **

"**He could be useful with a bit more training. Imagine his strength if he becomes a wolf." The alpha replied calmly. **

"**We don't need any more men. Plus his family killed our brother and friend!" the female said angrily. **

"**True, yet as much as I would like to end him here and now I think he would be such a shame to waste." the alpha said coolly. **

"**I would rather die than join you!" Itachi spat out angrily **

"**I could grant you that request." The female spat out flexing her claws **

"**STOP! As your Alpha I command you not to kill him. He WILL join us one way or another. He will be very useful to us during the upcoming war." The alpha snapped at the female who glared at him. **

"**What makes you think that I would ever join you?" Itachi asked annoyed and very angrily.**

"**You have a little brother don't you. He likes to roam around the village alone. We could easily walk in to the village and strike. We could strike at him in any way shape or form not to mention at any time that we choose." the alpha said calmly **

"**Leave my brother out of this!" Itachi snapped at the alpha. **

"**Only if you join us. Otherwise he'd make a delicious appetizer." the alpha said smugly. **

"**Why are you giving him a choice?" the female snarled **

"**Why am I giving you a choice?" the alpha echoed before knocking Itachi out. **

**When Itachi was once more conscious he looked around and to his horror saw the gruesome scene in front of him. His family lay slaughtered in front of his very eyes. Suddenly he saw Sasuke talking to their mom. Her eyes met his and she looked horrified and scared. After a few brief words with his little brother Sasuke began to run towards home. **

"**Care to join us yet?" the alpha asked coming into his line of sight. **

"**Never!" Itachi spat as he fought against the two half morphed wolves holding on to him tightly. **

"**Such a shame he looked like such a cute little brother." the alpha said before nodding to the female who took off after Sasuke. **

"**RUN!" Was all Itachi could yell out as the alpha put a clawed hand over his mouth. **

**Itachi watched in horror as his mom looked him in the eyes, tears running down her face as she ran to catch up with Sasuke before the wolf woman could. Just as the wolf woman was about to make contact with Sasuke she turned and slashed his mom across the stomach causing her to twist and land on Sasuke. **

**Itachi's blood ran cold and she walked closer to his pinned down little brother. Itachi struggled even harder which caused the alpha to look at him. **

"**I will spare him only if you join. Do you agree to join?" the alpha asked him again calmly. **

**Itachi loved his little brother more than anything and now he was also his only surviving family member. It pained him to do so but he shook his head in agreement. **

"**STOP!" the alpha shouted toward the woman who paused two feet away from Sasuke and began to calmly walk back towards them. **

"**It seems as though we've gotten our revenge as well as a new pack mate." The alpha said cruelly. **

**The woman had a feral grin on her face before she replied with "Welcome young pup, remember that if you betray us we know where your little brother is." And with that the alpha forced Itachi's head to the side and harshly bit down. Itachi felt the alpha's teeth go through his skin as he bled the alpha pulled his head back, bit down on his arm and mixed their blood. In a matter of moments both Itachi and the alpha's wounds closed. Suddenly Itachi fell to the ground his body contorting and morphing. Itachi wanted to cry out but his screams were lost in his throat. **

"**Don't worry after this it won't hurt to morph anymore. Your body is just adapting to its new form." A wolf with blue fur said to him. **

**Suddenly the pain stopped and Itachi opened his eyes once more and looked down the see a pair of black paws. Itachi's ears twitched with every sound that came through the forest air. His senses were heightened and as he rose to his feet he saw his new pack mates gather around him and grin before saying "Welcome to the Akatsuki!" in unison. **_*** End of Flash Back* **_

Itachi knew he could never go back to the village no matter what happened as he had to protect Sasuke. Plus he was one of Pein's top wolves there was no way Pein would ever let him be free. He had lived in sullen misery for years and now his misery had slightly lessened and it was all thanks to Temari. There were a ton of upsides to being with her. She had a great personality, she was gorgeous, a good fighter, smart and destined to become a wolf when Pein decreed it. Itachi smiled to himself, he couldn't wait to see her again tomorrow night.

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A/N: Hello Everyone! ^-^ As always I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter! I appreciate the continued support immensely. Remember the more reviews I get the faster I update. Reviews are GREATLY appreciated! Keep being the awesome readers you guys are and thank you for reading this! Until the next chapter,

-Midnight Oracle ^-^


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series in any way shape or form *Sniffles*.

Wolf Moon Chapter 12

Temari woke up and watched the dawn slowly creep over the mountains with a strange sense of excitement for tonight she would see Itachi again. Temari got up and cradled her dagger in her hands as Itachi's words crept back into her mind _"…only with things I want." _Temari blushed as she recalled their kiss. She couldn't believe she had done it but she didn't regret it in the slightest. Suddenly Temari heard the front door open and two sets of legs slowly creep up the stairs stopping at her door. Quickly Temari sprang into bed just as her brothers opened it.

"Up before the rooster crowed impressive." Kankuro said with a yawn.

Temari just rolled her eyes affectionately at him and stuck out her tongue.

"Were you okay while we were gone?" Gaara asked coming into her room as well.

"Yes Gaara, I survived without your overprotective presence hovering around me every two seconds." Temari replied irritated.

Temari counted herself lucky that Gaara appeared too tired to have noticed her snarky behavior and just nodded at her slightly before yawning and telling her that he was going to bed.

The rest of the day flew by for Temari and before she knew it she was being escorted home by Shikamaru and Sasuke.

"So any new exciting rebellious plans for tonight or are you going to behave?" Sasuke asked her playfully as they began walking up the pathway to her cottage.

"What do you think I'm going to do?" Temari asked her friends playfully.

"Well since you are the definition of troublesome I would have to go with misbehaving." Shikamaru replied teasingly.

"Ouch, well I guess I have my "troublesome" moments. Temari said amused. This caused Shikamaru to snort out of sarcasm which resulted in Temari socking him in the arm playfully which then resulted in Sasuke walking in between the two rough housing friends.

"Well I guess we'll be seeing you tomorrow." Sasuke said with a slight smile as he and Shikamaru hugged Temari good bye.

"Yep, until tomorrow!" Temari replied cheerfully.

As Shikamaru and Sasuke began to walk away from her house Sasuke called to her over his shoulder "Be good!"

To which Temari yelled back "I always am!" before opening the front door and entering it while chuckling.

As she entered the cottage Temari came face to face with Kankuro who was grabbing his coat.

"Going somewhere?" Temari asked him happily.

"Yep, Naruto and some of the guys are going to the pub. You could come along if you'd like or stay here with Gaara." Kankuro said

"She should stay home with me tonight." Gaara said while coming down the stairs.

"Why, she'd be with me which technically still fits in with our punishment." Kankuro replied with a frown.

"It's not just that, Temari has had a hard week with the mission and all so she needs her rest, Plus when you go drinking with the boys you would end up forgetting she was there and then the moment you had your drunken back turned she could go scampering off into the forest to go look at her wolves." Gaara replied firmly.

_Damn Gaara's caught onto one of my escape plans for tonight _Temari thought to herself.

Kankuro turned to look at Temari's hopeful expression and sighed "I guess it was supposed to be just the guys tonight, sorry Temari looks like you'll be staying here with Gaara tonight." Kankuro said before he left.

Temari turned to face Gaara "So what do you have planned for us this evening?" Temari asked Gaara with an exasperated sigh.

Gaara looked at Temari and smiled before replying "You have several options you can: (A) sulk in your room all evening, {B) Stay down here and talk with me,( C) Sharpen your dagger down here in the living room in my company , or( D) go clean up your room because it's gotten dirty again."

Temari gave him a bored expression before replying with "I think I'll choose to go sulk and clean my room."

Gaara looked at her a little disappointed before saying "Then I guess you better get to it."

"On my way." Temari replied as she began climbing up the staircase.

_What happened to my little sister who loved spending every moment with me?_ Gaara thought to himself sadly.

As soon as Temari got upstairs she quickly folded some of her clothes up and stuffed them under her sheets in an attempt to make it seem as though there was a person lying in her bed before opening her window. She reached out for the tree branch next to her bedroom window, climbed down the tree and scampered off towards the forest. Once Temari was at the entrance of the forest she looked back at the village almost guiltily but she needed her space and her freedom. And with that Temari took off running down the forest path.

After a few minutes of running Temari calmly walked through the forest and took in her surroundings, the cool mountain air was being blown around the forest by a calm wind. The stars shone brightly in the clear night sky while the leaves danced in the breeze and every now and again Temari would see a fox or an owl traveling through the forest. Temari didn't realize when she had arrived at her destination until Itachi spoke

"About time you showed up wolf girl. I was starting to think that I'd have to go looking for you."

"Sorry, I had to sneak past my guards." Temari replied as she looked away from the sky and at Itachi's face being lit up by the glow of a campfire.

"Guards eh, what did you do to get yourself put under house arrest?" Itachi asked amused while motioning for Temari to join him on the log he was sitting on.

"Nothing, my brothers are just over protective to the point of suffocation." Temari replied annoyed as she sat beside Itachi facing him.

As she said this an unreadable expression crossed his face before he sullenly said "They are probably just looking out for their beloved sister and don't realize how you feel about their methods. Maybe you guys should have a heart to heart or something."

Itachi's tone cut her off guard "Do you have any siblings?" Temari asked curiously.

"I pass on your question, plus tonight is all about me asking you questions. If you agree to meet with me tomorrow you can question me all you like." Itachi said with a genuine smile.

Temari just smirked to herself before playfully responding with "Careful Weasel if you keep asking me to meet with you, you'll give me the impression that you like me."

"What if I do like you?" Itachi asked with a smirk

Temari blushed a little before hastily brushing aside the question.

"So what about me do you want to know?"

"Well I know you have siblings from what you mentioned earlier, how many siblings do you have?" Itachi asked amused

"I have two older brothers." Temari responded

"What is your favorite animal?" Itachi asked

"Wolves." Temari responded to which Itachi raised his right eyebrow.

"Why wolves?" Itachi asked intrigued

"Because they are just so majestic and graceful…plus…" Temari trailed off and then turned away from Itachi with a sad expression on her face.

Itachi frowned at the sad look on her face "Plus.." Itachi said gently prompting Temari to continue.

"Plus it's what my mom and I used to do together before she died in a riding accident." Temari said softly.

"I see, so it's a way of keeping her close even though she can't physically be with you." Itachi said enlightened

"Exactly.." Temari responded surprised at his understanding.

"That must have been hard for you, your father and brothers." Itachi said

"Well it was hard for my brothers and I…my father was killed in battle the year before." Temari responded sadly

"Oh..well then no wonder your brothers are so protective. They probably can't bear to have another beloved family member ripped away from them." Itachi said understandingly

"Yeah…I don't think I've made it easy for them. Once my mom died I was angry at the world and stopped talking to them for a while. That's when they began treating me as if I was made out of glass. Even though I'm a big girl and can take care of myself." Temari responded with her old spunk returning.

"So I've seen." Itachi said amused

As Itachi and Temari continued to talk they began to subconsciously move towards each other slowly. And after a while they were so close that Temari could feel Itachi's breath on her cheek as she turned to look at the now dead fire.

"I think I should go." Temari said suddenly realizing how close they were.

"Okay, we wouldn't want your guards to discover that you've been gone." Itachi replied with a slight smirk his handsome face illuminated in the bright moonlight.

Temari just playfully stuck her tongue out at him as she got off the log.

"So I'll be seeing you tomorrow night then." Itachi said

"You can count on it." Temari replied with a smile and turned to leave. Yet just as she began to walk away she felt a tug on her arm and turned to see Itachi kiss her hand. And just as she was about to say something Itachi quickly leaned in and kissed her chastely on the lips before whispering against her mouth so close to her still that as he spoke his lips brushed against hers "Until tomorrow fair lady knight." And then after another quick kiss Itachi turned and jogged up the path leaving Temari speechless.

Temari stood there in shock for a few moments still feeling her lips tingle from the kiss before an owl's hoot brought her back to reality and she turned to race back home. And just like the past few nights Itachi silently followed Temari to make sure she got out of the forest safely.

Once home Temari quickly scampered up her tree, climbed into her room, took off her cape and riding boots and flopped down on the bed with her eyes closed just in time to hear her door being opened.

"She's asleep, let's not wake her." Gaara whispered as he looked at what he thought was his sleeping sister.

"You're right to have made her stay home it looks like she passed out on her bed from exhaustion." Kankuro replied with a whisper as he walked into her room.

"Do you think she hates me?" Gaara asked suddenly in a low sad tone as he joined Kankuro in Temari's room.

"No I think she's just being a teenager." Kankuro replied softly as he drew some covers over the "sleeping" Temari.

"I guess…it's hard watching her grow up so fast. I can still remember when she used to wordlessly crawl into my bed during thunderstorms seeking comfort while shaking from fear before mom and dad died." Gaara said nostalgically

"Yeah I remember asking her why she didn't go to mom and dad. She told me that she didn't want them to think she was a scaredy cat." Kankuro replied with a slight low chuckle.

"I remember finding Temari near our mother covered in blood on the night of mom's accident. Once I laid my eyes on an unconscious Temari with a head wound I vowed to do everything in my power to protect her more than I had been. I don't know what I would have done if we had lost Temari as well as mom during the attack." Gaara rambled on quietly.

"It's a good thing she didn't remember what really happened." Kankuro replied while affectionately moving a piece of Temari's hair off of her face.

"Yeah…one day we should tell her the truth." Gaara replied softly

"Yep…so you have the next two days off?" Kankuro asked in a low voice.

"Yeah…come on let's let Temari sleep in peace." Gaara said affectionately as Kankuro quietly walked out of the room.

Gaara sat on a chair next to Temari for a moment before quietly whispering in the empty room "I know I may seem harsh, but I just want you to be safe because…you're my little sister and I love you even though you act like a brat sometimes." And with that said Gaara made sure Temari was tucked in before silently leaving her room.

As Temari heard her door shut her eyes fluttered open and she stared into the emptiness of her room for a moment before whispering "I love you too my stupid older brother." To the darkness that surrounded her before closing her eyes once more. Just as Temari fell asleep her last coherent thought was _what really happened the day mom died?_

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A/N: Hi Everyone! ^-^ I hope you have enjoyed this chapter! I want to thank you all for your continued support! It means a lot to me. You guys are awesome. Remember the more reviews I get the faster I update. Reviews are GREATLY appreciated! Thank you for taking the time to read this. Until the next chapter,

-Midnight Oracle ^-^


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series in any way *Sniffles*.

Wolf Moon Chapter 13 

The sun had slowly begun to creep over the mountains casting everything with a golden glow as Itachi reached the Akatsuki's cave and was met at the entrance by Kisame

"Alpha wants a word with you." Kisame said with a raised eyebrow.

"Okay." Itachi said stoically as he walked past Kisame.

"So when do we get to meet your new girlfriend?" Kisame asked following behind Itachi amused.

"Soon and she's just my target." Itachi replied a little annoyed.

"I'm sure she is." Kisame said while chuckling to himself as he walked away from Itachi.

_I wonder what that was all about. _Itachi asked himself as he walked up to the alpha's door.

"Enter!" boomed a cruel voice.

"You summoned me." Itachi stated stoically as he showed his neck to Pein.

"How is your mission coming along?" Pein asked coldly

"Good, I plan on introducing her to the pack within the next few days." Itachi replied cautiously.

"Excellent, I look forward to seeing her in person." Pein said authoritatively

Itachi just nodded and was then dismissed and walked out of Pein's den. As he kept walking he ran into Kisame again who was heading out on a mission.

"So when are you going to show her your other form?" Kisame asked Itachi

"Tonight, she deserves to know the truth about what I really am." Itachi replied determinedly which caused Kisame to stare at him.

Noticing his stare Itachi looked at Kisame with a raised eyebrow and an expression that said why are you staring at me like that.

"She seems really good for you." Kisame said amazed

"Why is that?" Itachi asked guardedly even though he was beaming on the inside.

"Because she appears to be able to bring you out of your personal darkness." Kisame replied knowingly before morphing into a wolf and bounding away.

Itachi stood there for a few moments before smiling to himself _Yeah it appears that way_ Itachi thought to himself as he went to his room to rest up for the night.

-Meanwhile-

Temari woke up in an extra good mood knowing that she would be seeing Itachi in the evening. Temari put on a green top, her normal corset, riding pants, and riding boots. Temari thought back on Gaara's sad tone of voice when he asked Kankuro if she hated him. Temari was broken out of her thoughts as Kankuro knocked on her door.

"Get up…oh you are awake already." Kankuro said surprised to which Temari just rolled her eyes and smiled at him.

Kankuro was even more thrown off by her smile _She never smiles in the morning…at least not at Gaara and I_ Kankuro thought to himself as a look of confusion crossed his features.

Temari almost laughed at seeing Kankuro's expression as she walked up and hugged her brother

"Morning!" Temari said cheerfully as she walked past her stunned brother.

As she walked down stairs Temari saw Gaara sipping tea from his mug. A sudden feeling of guilt washed over Temari as she remembered everything Gaara had said last night while she was pretending to sleep. With that Temari walked over to Gaara and hugged him from behind

"Morning Gaara!" Temari said cheerfully as she smiled at him.

Gaara had a similarly shocked look on his face as Kankuro had and he answered cautiously and in a stunned voice "Good morning."

As Temari ate her breakfast she looked up to see both of her brothers staring at her as if she had grown two heads.

"What do I have something on my face?" Temari asked amused.

"Nope." Both Gaara and Kankuro replied simultaneously before quickly returning to their own breakfasts.

Suddenly there was a knock on their door and Temari got up to open it. Upon opening it Temari found Sasuke and Shikamaru standing in front of her door.

"You guys are here early." Temari stated questioningly

"We just wanted to let you know that due to the fact that Sir Kakashi and Sir Guy were sent out on a mission for the next two days that we'll be getting those two days off." Shikamaru said in a pleased tone.

"We also wanted to know if you wanted to go hiking with us later on." Sasuke asked

"That's great, but I think I'll have to pass on the hike." Temari said to a now confused group of men as Kankuro and Gaara came up behind Temari.

"Why?" Shikamaru asked confused

"Because I'm spending the day with Gaara." Temari said with a slight chuckle.

All the men surrounding her looked at each other confused and then back at her shocked.

"Um okay…how about tomorrow then?" Shikamaru asked slightly weirded out by Temari's behavior.

"Sure sounds good." Temari replied cheerfully as she hugged them goodbye.

"Until tomorrow then." Sasuke said walking away with a slight wave over his shoulder with Shikamaru trailing slightly behind him.

"Okay who are you and what have you done with our sullen sister?" Kankuro asked Temari

"Can't I want to spend some time with my own family?" Temari countered back feigning hurt.

Kankuro stared at her for a few more minutes before grabbing his coat, a pack and saying

"Well unlike you lucky people I have to go on a mission. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Alright, bye Kankuro be safe!" Temari replied with a smile as he walked out the door and mounted his own horse and left.

Then Temari turned to see Gaara staring at her still.

"What?" Temari asked Gaara amused.

"Nothing…so what did you have in mind?" Gaara asked his sister bewildered

"Let's go on our own hike." Temari replied

And within a few minutes Temari and Gaara were walking down the forest path. They walked until they reached a lake that had a waterfall streaming into it. It was the lake they used to visit before their mom died.

Temari waited until Gaara had put his stuff down before playfully pushing him into the water . As Gaara surfaced he gave Temari a shocked look before laughing

"Now you're going to get it." Gaara said playfully as he swam to shore and began to chase his sister before catching up to her and throwing her into the water and then jumping in after her.

The two of them played in the water as they had when they were younger before climbing onto a flat boulder to dry off in the afternoon sun. As they ate Temari thought over what Gaara and Kankuro said about their mom. Temari wanted answers but she didn't want to spoil the afternoon so Temari decided to wait until tomorrow to ask.

"This was a nice idea." Gaara said as he unpacked a satchel with their lunch in it.

"yeah it was ." Temari replied happily

"I'm sorry I'm so moody around you guys all the time." Temari continued

"It's alright." Gaara said surprised

"I know you guys are just trying to look out for me but you also have to realize that I'm not a fragile little girl anymore." Temari said

"I know…it's just….hard to see you growing up so strong. It feels like you don't need us anymore." Gaara replied sadly.

"Gaara…of course I'll always need my family. But I also need my family to give me some space every now and again." Temari replied soothingly

"I guess you're right…I'll tell you what, I'll let you out of your punishment early if you promise to go on more of these hikes with me." Gaara said smiling.

"I promise Gaara!" Temari yelled happily as she hugged him.

"Gaara is it alright if I go out tonight?" Temari asked her brother cautiously.

"Where?" Gaara asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Firefly meadow." Temari replied

"That's inside the forest." Gaara said guarded

"I know…"Temari replied with a hopeful expression on her face.

Gaara looked at her expression and sighed exasperatedly before saying

"Oh alright."

"Thank you Gaara you're the best!" Temari said overjoyed.

For the rest of the day Temari and Gaara hung out with each other, each enjoying the other's company. Towards dusk Temari and Gaara returned to the village. They got dinner at the village tavern before heading home. Once inside Temari grabbed her cape and art basket before heading to the door.

"Do I have to tell you to be safe?" Gaara asked his sister playfully

"Nope, you know I'll try my best to be." Temari replied as she mounted Midnight and rode off towards the forest.

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A/N: Hi Everyone! ^-^ I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter! I want to thank you all for your continued support. It helps with keeping me inspired to write. Remember the more reviews I get the faster I update. Reviews are GREATLY appreciated! Thank you for reading this, you guys are awesome! Until the next chapter,

-Midnight Oracle ^-^


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series in any way *Sniffles*.

Wolf Moon Chapter 14 

Temari rode Midnight down the path as fast as she could. Temari felt the wind rushing past her as the feeling of ecstasy coursed through her body. Today had been such a good day and now she would be able to hang out with Itachi. Temari slowed Midnight down as she approached their meeting spot. Upon arriving Temari found Itachi leaning nonchalantly against a tree.

"You seem awfully happy." Itachi said with a smirk on his face.

"Gaara revoked my house arrest." Temari said grinning widely.

"Congratulations how'd you manage that?" Itachi asked amused

"I followed your advice and had a heart to heart with him." Temari replied sheepishly

"Do I need to say I told you so?" Itachi asked smugly as Temari dismounted and tied Midnight to a tree.

"No but thanks for the advice." Temari replied with a genuine smile.

Itachi looked at her with a smile

"You're welcome." Itachi said

"So tonight I get to find out about the mysterious Weasel." Temari said with a smirk.

"Yeah ask anything you want." Itachi replied nervously as they walked to the log that they had been sitting on the night before.

"Alright, do you have any siblings?" Temari asked him

"One, a younger brother." Itachi replied with an unreadable expression on his face.

"That's cool. So do you have a big family?" Temari asked Itachi innocently

"Not anymore…they were killed a few years ago. My little brother is all I have left." Itachi replied solemnly

"I'm sorry." Temari replied softly

"It's okay…" Itachi said in a low tone.

"You must be close with your little brother then." Temari said

"Not really, we haven't seen or spoken to each other in years." Itachi replied sadly

"Maybe you should have a heart to heart with him as well." Temari said with a slight smile.

"Yeah..maybe.." Itachi replied with a slight look of sadness on his face because deep down he knew he shouldn't even consider the thought of this as he could not risk his Alpha doing good on this threat to kill his brother if they had contact with each other. This knowledge haunted him as he longed to reach out to his brother.

"So what do you do for a living?" Temari asked

"That's complicated…I'm kind of in between jobs right now." Itachi said guardedly

"That sucks, I'm sure things will turn around soon." Temari said encouragingly

"Yeah..I bet they will." Itachi replied with a sarcastic expression.

"Do you live nearby? Because I never see you come with a horse or anything." Temari asked intrigued

"Kind of, I don't own a horse; I'm just a fast runner." Itachi said matter of factly.

"I know this sounds silly but before my house arrest I was watching a wolf pack and one of the wolves that I admired looked in some regards very similar to you , and I swear if you could be a wolf you would look like that." Temari said playfully

" It's not silly in fact I am a wolf" Itachi said suddenly serious

Temari started cracking up thinking he was teasing with her until she saw his expression.

"You're kidding right?" Temari asked beginning to scoot away from Itachi now.

"No, Temari I really am a wolf." Itachi replied seriously.

"But that's not possible. There are no such things as werewolves. The village would have told us if there were!" Temari said slowly getting creeped out.

"The village has kept that information from the public in order to stave off mass panic." Itachi replied calmly.

Temari just looked at him like he was crazy.

"No, werewolves are only myths made up by parents to scare little children into obedience." Temari said firmly.

"Where do you think those myths stem from? Myths are born form some forms of the truth." Itachi argued.

Temari just kept looking at him skeptically.

"How about I prove it to you?" Itachi said insistently

"Okay knock yourself out." Temari replied sarcastically.

"Follow me." Itachi said as he got up and stuck out his hand.

Temari looked at his hand hesitantly and against her better judgment took it and followed him to firefly meadow.

"Sit on that boulder." Itachi said pointing to the boulder in front of them.

Temari shrugged and sat cross legged on the boulder

"Oh this should be good." Temari muttered to herself.

Suddenly Itachi bent forward and Temari watched in horror and fascination as inky black fur began to cover his body, his nails grew out to be claws, his ears morphed into wolf shaped ones, Itachi's body changed its form and before she knew it sitting before her was THE BLACK WOLF.

All Temari could do was stare at Itachi who sat back on his haunches in the dark green grass with fireflies flittering around him. Itachi sat patiently looking at her still as a rock as if any sudden movement that he might make could cause her to scamper off.

Cautiously Temari slid off the rock and slowly crept forward

"Itachi?" Temari asked carefully

Wolf Itachi slowly nodded

"Can you understand what I'm saying?" Temari asked and then received a nod and a raised eyebrow from Itachi.

Slowly Temari reached out a hand as if to pet him but stopped inches before his muzzle.

"May I?" Temari asked

In response Itachi pushed his muzzle into Temari's hand. Temari ran her hand through Itachi's soft fur before he leapt at her suddenly causing her to fall onto her back with him towering over her. Then she was suddenly assaulted by a course warm tongue against her cheek. Temari started to laugh as she brought her hands up to push him off.

"Okay, okay. Wow that's…I don't even know what to say. Temari said while still chuckling to herself.

Suddenly Temari felt the weight on top of her change and she was pushed back onto her back with Itachi lying on her in human form. Itachi brought his face close to hers

"Are you afraid?" Itachi whispered against Temari's lips.

"No." Temari replied shakily

"Liar I can hear your heart beating faster than normal." Itachi replied smugly

"I'm not scared just a little overwhelmed." Temari replied sternly

"If you say so." Itachi replied amused before sealing their lips together. Temari felt as though there was a fire blazing in her veins as the kiss grew more intense. Temari wrapped her arms around Itachi's neck as Itachi licked Temari's lower lip. Temari squeaked a little in surprise as she felt Itachi nipping at her lower lip. Before letting go of her lip and running the tip of his tongue against her lips begging for entry. Temari let him in and the two of them battled for dominance inside Temari's mouth before the need for air forced them apart.

"Temari will you be mine?" Itachi asked as he nuzzled his face into the crock of her neck.

"I don't know." Temari replied shakily as Itachi licked her neck playfully

"Just give us a chance." Itachi said as he brought up his thumb to stroke against her cheek gently.

Temari thought about all the challenges they would have to face but once she looked into his eyes she knew they could handle whatever came their way.

"Okay." Temari agreed mesmerized by Itachi's eyes.

"Excellent." Itachi replied happily as he sat back on her stomach slowly.

Temari looked up at the stars shining brightly in the sapphire sky.

"Are there many of you?" Temari asked as she propped herself up on her elbows.

"Kind of…would you like to meet the rest of my pack?" Itachi asked

"Okay." Temari replied

"Great, I'll introduce you guys tomorrow." Itachi said with a smile as he brought his arms around Temari and threw his weight to the side causing Temari to roll onto her side and brought close against Itachi's toned chest. This caused her to blush lightly. Temari and Itachi lay there looking up at the stars just enjoying each other's company until Temari noticed the sky starting to brighten.

"I think I should go." Temari murmured against Itachi.

"I guess, we wouldn't want your brothers freaking out too much now would we." Itachi replied with a smirk while getting up and helping Temari up as well.

Temari nodded in agreement and the pair of them walked back to an anxious looking Midnight.

Temari mounted Midnight while Itachi morphed back into his wolf form. As Temari rode towards the entrance of the forest Itachi stayed in pace with Midnight and stopped a few feet in front of the entrance. Temari stopped Midnight as Itachi morphed back into his human form.

"Until tomorrow my fair lady knight." Itachi said as he brought Temari's hand to his lips and kissed it sensuously.

"Until tomorrow." Temari said with a blush adorning her face and a wave of heat coursed throughout her body. With that said Itachi morphed back into his wolf form and bounded away.

Temari grinned widely as she urged Midnight forward and rode into the village. _What a day this turned out to be!"_ Temari thought to herself as she rode home.

Little did she know that a certain blue wolf had been watching them. _You two are definitely perfect for each other._ Kisame thought to himself with a smirk before turning around and bounding back to the hide out.

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A/N: Hi Everyone! ^-^ As always I hope that you guys have enjoyed this chapter! Your continued support is much appreciated. You guys are awesome! Remember the more reviews I get the faster I update. Reviews are GREATLY appreciated! Until the next chapter,

-Midnight Oracle ^-^


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series in any way shape or form *Sniffles*.

Wolf Moon Chapter 15

_I can't believe I said yes._ Was the first thought that came into Temari's mind as she awoke the next morning. After lying in her bed and feeling blissfully at peace Temari got up and changed into a lavender top, her normal corset, riding pants and boots, and then headed down the stairs.

"Morning Mari." Gaara said with a smile.

"Morning Gaara." Temari replied happily.

"Well you two seem awfully happy with each other. I have to tell you it's refreshing not seeing you guys constantly at each other's throats." Kankuro commented appreciatively.

"Yeah, we had a big talk yesterday and worked everything out." Gaara said.

Just as Kankuro was about to comment there came a knock on the door. Temari went to open it and came face to face with Sasuke.

"Morning Sasuke." Temari said while smiling at her friend.

"Morning Mari. I was wondering if you were ready to go on a hike." Sasuke replied.

"Okay, is it just going to be the two of us or is Shikamaru coming as well?" Temari asked.

"It'll just be the two of us if that's okay with you." Sasuke said trying to hide the blush threatening to creep onto his face and that Temari's brothers unfortunately didn't fail to notice.

"Yeah that's fine with me, let me just grab my bag." Temari replied cheerfully.

As Temari disappeared to get some food for lunch Sasuke came face to face with Temari's brothers. Gaara stood with his arms crossed next to Kankuro who had his hands on his hips. Both men looked at Sasuke with an eyebrow raised and a stern expression on their faces.

"What?" asked Sasuke nervously.

"Nothing, make sure she comes home safe." Kankuro said protectively.

"We'll know if you try anything." Gaara said menacingly.

Before Sasuke could say anything Temari walked back into the room and put her red cape on and hugged her brothers.

"We'll be back soon." Temari said cheerfully.

"Have fun you two!" both of Temari's brothers called back with smirks on their faces and as Sasuke turned back to look at them they glared and pointed to their eyes and then to him as a way of saying We'll be watching you, before they walked back into the cottage.

"So where are we hiking to?" Temari asked him as they headed towards the forest.

"Deer lake." Sasuke replied shyly.

"That's where we first met." Temari said happily.

"You remember?" Sasuke asked surprised

"Yeah, I'll never forget it." Temari replied.

_***Flash Back* **_

_**A young 11 year old Temari was hiking through the forest when she came to a huge lake. Sitting on one of the boulders near the shore sat a young boy that looked to be around her age. **_

"_**Hello there!" Temari called out cheerfully. **_

_**The boy just turned and looked at her before going back to looking out across the lake. **_

_**Confused by the boy's reaction Temari walked up to him and sat next to him without asking. **_

_**Temari looked at him expectantly while the boy just kept staring straight ahead. **_

"_**Did you know that, that hair cut looks like a duck's butt?" Temari said trying to provoke him into saying anything. **_

_**The boy just looked at her with a scowl before turning back to look out across the water. **_

_**Irritated Temari looked at the boy and said "You know I didn't want to have to do this but you left me no choice." **_

_**The boy looked confused for a moment before his expression turned to that of shock as he hit the water below. **_

"_**What the hell did you do that for?!" the boy yelled. **_

"_**Finally he speaks. I was teaching you that it's rude to ignore people when they are talking to you." Temari responded with a smirk. **_

_**Sasuke walked out of the water and sat next to Temari again and pushed Temari into the lake. But what he didn't count on was that Temari had grabbed a hold of his shirt which caused him to fall into the lake again. **_

_**As the two of them emerged they looked at each other and Temari began to laugh at Sasuke's shocked expression which turned to one of amusement before he splashed her. This in turn began a water fight. After they played for a bit the two of them sat once again upon the boulder. **_

"_**So what's your name?" Temari asked as she sprawled out on the boulder. **_

_**When she received no answer she sighed. **_

"_**You know if you don't give me a name I'll have to start calling you duck butt." Temari said smugly. **_

_**With a sigh Sasuke turned to Temari and said "It's Sasuke." **_

"_**Nice to meet you Sasuke." Temari replied with a smile. **_

_**Upon noticing how the sun was beginning to set Temari turned to Sasuke **_

"_**We'll I have to go. It was nice meeting you Sasuke." Temari said with a smile. **_

"_**Temari?" Sasuke asked. **_

"_**Yeah?" Temari replied confused. **_

"_**Will you meet me here tomorrow?" Sasuke asked shyly. **_

"_**Of course! Bye duck butt!" Temari called out playfully as she walked away. **_

_***End of Flash Back* **_

"We met every day after that." Sasuke said fondlyas they arrived at their destination.

"Yep, and then we became the best of friends." Temari said happily.

_But now I like you more than just friends…_Sasuke thought to himself as he watched Temari put her stuff down before turning to look at the water. Just as he had his back turned Temari pushed him into the water. Sasuke swam up to the surface and looked at her with a smirk.

"Something's never change do they." Sasuke asked playfully.

"Nope." Temari replied giggling.

"Well if things never change then…" Sasuke cut off with a smug look on his face as he climbed out of the lake and began to walk towards Temari.

"Oh hell no!" Temari said playfully before running.

"I'm not done with you yet!" Sasuke called smugly before running after her.

Little did they know that they were being watched _Watch yourself little brother, she's mine! _Itachi growled to himself possessively before vanishing back into the forest.

Meanwhile Sasuke had caught up with Temari and carried her struggling form onto the boulder and pushed her off forgetting that she still had a hold of his shirt. Suddenly he felt himself falling into the lake again. As they surfaced Sasuke looked at Temari who was laughing to herself as she swam back to shore and then lay down on the boulder.

_She's so beautiful…_Sasuke thought to himself as he joined her on the boulder.

"Temari…" Sasuke began nervously.

"What is it?" Temari asked her friend encouragingly.

"I was wondering…" Sasuke began only to be cut off by Shikamaru's voice.

"There you guys are!" Shikamaru called.

_Damn it Shikamaru! _Sasuke thought to himself while sending a glare in Shikamaru's direction. Noticing the glare Shikamaru just shrugged and kept walking towards them.

"Hi Shikamaru!" Temari called back smiling.

"Sasuke, Tsunade has a mission for you." Shikamaru said as he sat down next to his drenched friends.

Sasuke sighed to himself _of course I have a sudden mission just as I'm about to confess_ Sasuke thought to himself annoyed.

"What did you want to say Sasuke?" Temari asked taking a bite of her apple.

"Never mind…I'll tell you later." Sasuke said as he packed up his stuff.

"Okay…" Temari replied confused.

"I guess we should go." Sasuke said looking at his friends.

"I think I'll stay here." Temari replied as Shikamaru got up and started walking behind Sasuke.

"What do you mean? Aren't you still in trouble?" Shikamaru asked.

"Nope, Gaara and I worked things out and he was nice enough to let me out of my punishment early." Temari replied happily.

"Okay, well have fun then." Shikamaru said with a smile.

"Will do crybaby." Temari said playfully with a smirk.

"Stay safe!" Sasuke called out as he and Shikamaru started back down the path.

"I always am duck butt!" Temari called back contently as she lay herself down on the boulder and looked up at the sky. The boulder beneath Temari was warm; the breeze rolling through the forest was keeping her from overheating in the sun, and the sounds of the water lapping against the shore made Temari feel sleepy. _Maybe I'll just take a mini nap…_Temari thought to herself as she felt her eyelids grow heavy and close.

"Good evening wolf girl." A sensual voice whispered in Temari's ear.

Temari's eyes flew open as she sat up.

"Itachi?" Temari asked confused as she saw Itachi's face in front of her with an amused expression on his face.

"How was your nap?" Itachi asked amused.

"It went by too quickly." Temari replied with a blush as she pulled on her cape to stave off the chills from the cool evening air.

Itachi chuckled as he leaned in for a kiss. Temari met him half way; again Temari felt her heart beat pick up as she wrapped her arms around Itachi's neck pulling him in closer. Temari felt Itachi 's lips against her lips as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pull her off the boulder and to his chest before releasing her lips so they could breathe.

"Ready to meet the pack?" Itachi asked softly.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Temari replied determinedly. Itachi just laughed and kissed her one more time before wrapping his arm around her waist possessively.

"Good lets go." Itachi said with a sexy look that caused Temari to blush.

The two of them walked for a few minutes before they reached a meadow that Temari recognized as the one where she had seen them for the first time. Suddenly a blue and black wolf bounded up to them and within seconds the wolf morphed into Kisame.

"Nice to meet you Temari, my name is Kisame." Kisame said warmly while taking her hand a placing a light kiss on her hand and then smirked at the glare Itachi sent his way.

"Nice to meet you too Kisame." Temari said with a smile.

"Where are the others?" Itachi asked in a bored tone.

Just as Kisame was about to answer they heard someone wolf whistle. All three of them turned their heads to look at a toned male with silver hair.

"Well hello baby." Hidan said with a smirk

"Don't call me baby." Temari said annoyed.

"My name is Hidan." Hidan said cockily as he walked towards them. The closer he got the tighter Temari felt Itachi's grip on her waist getting.

"Itachi if you tighten your grip any more you'll end up breaking my ribs." Temari said smugly which caused the other males to chuckle.

"I like her she's feisty un." Said a new voice.

All of them turned to see a toned blonde male with blue eyes walking towards them.

"Nice to meet you Temari, my name's Deidara un." Deidara said with a smirk as he held out a hand. As Temari went to reach for it Itachi reached out and pulled her hand away.

"What the hell Itachi? I'm just saying hi so don't get your panties in a knot." Temari said irritated as she ripped her hand out of Itachi's grip and shook hands with Deidara.

All the males looked at each other and laughed at Itachi's put out expression.

"yep she is definitely a keeper." Said a new voice amused. They looked to see a toned male with red hair walking up to them.

"Evening Sasori." Itachi said emotionlessly.

"Evening Temari and Itachi. It's good to finally meet you Temari." Sasori said with a smile.

"Where are Pein, Konan, Kakuzu, Tobi and Zetsu?" Itachi asked.

"They are all out on missions but they'll be back tomorrow." Sasori replied.

"Will you come and visit us again tomorrow Temari?" Kisame asked politely.

"Sure." Temari said with a smile.

" I look forward to it un." Deidara said with a charming smile as the group sat down and kept on talking. As the evening progressed the males of the group noticed how Temari leaned against Itachi and how he kept his arm around her waist. They all smirked, this girl was really something. Soon it was time for Temari to go back home. Temari stood up and detached herself from Itachi

"It was nice to meet all of you." Temari said with a smile as she hugged them. As she hugged Hidan he squeezed her butt which caused Temari to knee him in the groin.

"I wouldn't do that again if I were you." Temari said tightly as Hidan howled in pain on the ground.

"She can definitely take care of herself." Kisame said amused.

"Yes she can." Itachi said in an admiring tone. This caused all the other males except for Hidan who was now muttering curse words looked at each other with an amused expression and a raised eyebrow.

"Until tomorrow!" they all called out as Temari turned and walked away with Itachi's arm around her waist once more.

"Sorry about Hidan." Itachi said apologetically as they walked together down the forest path.

"It's fine, I hope he's learned his lesson." Temari said with a smirk.

"I bet he did." Itachi said amused.

Temari and Itachi walked with each other talking about whatever came into their minds until they were at the forest opening. Temari turned to face Itachi as Itachi brought her face to his and kissed her before detaching himself from her.

"Until tomorrow wolf girl." Itachi said with a smirk as he placed another kiss on her forehead.

"Until tomorrow weasel." Temari replied smugly as she turned and began to walk down towards the forest.

Itachi morphed back into his wolf form as he watched her leave. _Oh Temari if you only knew how much you mean to me. _Itachi thought to himself sadly as he bounded away into the forest.

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A/N: Hi Everyone! ^-^ As always I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter! I want to thank you all for your continued support. You all are awesome! Reviews are GREATLY appreciated. Thank you for reading this! Until the next chapter,

-Midnight Oracle ^-^


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series in any way *Sniffles*.

Wolf Moon Chapter 16

Temari hummed to herself happily as she got ready for knighthood training. Today was the last lesson before she would officially become a knight later on during the day. As Temari reached for her dagger she heard a knock on the door. Temari opened it to find Sasuke standing there.

"Hey, what brings you here?" Temari asked cheerfully as she sheathed her dagger in its holder on her waist.

"Just visiting my best friend." Sasuke answered with a smile.

"Oh well if that's all…"Temari trailed off with a smirk.

"Oh and I wanted to tell you to hurry your butt up so we can get to the training ground on time." Sasuke replied smugly.

"I've got everything I need let's go." Temari said feigning irritation as she tied her cape around her neck and closed the cottage door behind her.

Soon the pair of them reached the training grounds.

"Glad you could join us." Sir Kakashi said lazily.

"Happy to be here as always." Temari replied feigning innocence.

Sir Kakashi just shook his head before speaking once more

"Today's lesson will consist of duels. Each of you have been matched to an opponent. I will watch each duel and look for techniques and strategies that I have taught you over the last several years. I know that Shikamaru is Sir Asuma's student but he has kindly let me borrow him for my lesson today. Now I will call out each pairing and expect you to stand next to each other until I'm done. First pair Shikamaru vs. Temari and Naruto vs. Sasuke."

The students moved together.

"Good, the first duel will be Shikamaru and Temari. Please face your opponent." Sir Kakashi said.

Temari and Shikamaru faced each other and drew their swords.

"Ready, begin!" Sir Kakashi called out.

"Aw man I have to fight you. This is way too troublesome for my liking." Shikamaru drawled lazily.

"Oh whatever crybaby." Temari said teasingly before lunging at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru's and Temari's swords clashed as they kept striking at each other. Temari was getting impatient she wanted this duel over with. So using the terrain Temari forced Shikamaru to back up until the back of his foot got caught on a branch and he fell over, landing on his back and the impact making him drop his sword. Before Shikamaru could grab his sword Temari pointed hers to his chest

"yield!" Temari demanded determinedly

"Oh all right I yield." Shikamaru mumbled to himself as Temari helped him out.

"Good job Temari." Sir Kakashi said proudly.

"Thank you Sir Kakashi!" Temari beamed.

Shikamaru just mumbled under his breath about how troublesome that had been as Naruto and Sasuke began their match.

"Begin!" yelled Sir Kakashi

Naruto let out a fierce battle cry before lunging at Sasuke. Sasuke watched the way Naruto's feet and sword were heading and dogged it. Naruto stopped surprised before turning around and lunging again. Metal clashed as both of their swords collided. Sasuke suddenly stepped back after noticing that Naruto had put all of his weight onto his front leg and once Sasuke stepped back Naruto tumbled forward. Before Naruto could move again Sasuke placed his sword against Naruto's neck.

"yield." Sasuke said in a stoic manner.

"I yield." Naruto replied frustrated.

Sir Kakashi looked at Naruto and said

"Remember to keep equal weight distribution as much as you can."

"I'll keep that in mind." Naruto said determinedly.

"All right class dismissed. It was an honor to be your guys' mentor. I will see you all in a few days for your Knighting ceremony." Sir Kakashi said before he walked away.

After spending the rest of the day on missions and hanging out with her brother's Temari was happy to finally be able to relax…sort of…tonight she was supposed to meet the alpha. Temari was kind of nervous, she hoped that the alpha would like her and allow her and Itachi to keep seeing one another. Even though Temari had a sneaking suspicion that if the alpha said they couldn't be together they would try to find a way. With that in mind Temari grabbed her art basket and tied her red cape around her neck.

"Going to Deer Meadow tonight?" Gaara asked from the living room as he saw Temari head for the door.

"That was the plan." Temari responded with a smile.

"Have fun, be safe, and come home before dawn please." Gaara said in a parenting tone of voice.

"I will, see you later!" Temari called as she walked out the door.

Temari had just started walking down the path when she saw Sasuke walk towards her.

"Evening Mari." Sasuke said playfully

"Evening duck butt." Temari replied teasingly.

"Are you ever going to let that go?" Sasuke asked amused.

"Are you ever going to change your hair style?" Temari countered.

"Nope." Sasuke replied.

"Well then it's a no for me as well." Temari said with a smirk.

"Where are you going?" Sasuke asked.

" Deer Meadow to get some sketching done." Temari replied.

"Mind if I tag along?" Sasuke asked.

"Actually I would like to be alone tonight." Temari responded gently.

"Oh…"Sasuke said dejectedly.

"How about we do something together soon. Just the two of us." Temari said hoping to cheer Sasuke up.

"Okay, let me know when." Sasuke said with a lopsided grin.

"Will do." Temari said with a smile as she hugged Sasuke and walked off.

_I wonder what she's up to…_Sasuke thought to himself as he saw Temari disappear into the forest.

"Good evening wolf girl." Itachi said playfully as he walked out from behind a tree.

"Evening weasel." Temari said as she embraced Itachi.

"Ready to go see the pack once more?" Itachi asked.

"Yep!" Temari responded happily as they walked together with their hands intertwined.

As they made it into the clearing Temari was suddenly jumped up on by an orange wolf who was energetically wagging his tail like an excited puppy. Temari giggled and pet the wolf on the head and received a lick on her hand before being yanked off her forcefully by Deidara.

"Sorry about that un." Deidara said while looking at the orange wolf that quickly morphed into a man with jet black hair and a mask around his face.

"Nice to meet you Temari! My name is Tobi and Tobi is a good boy!" Tobi said energetically.

"Down boy." Sasori said coming up to greet Temari again.

"Hi Sasori!" Temari said as she hugged him chuckling.

"I have a question, do you mind if I sketch you in wolf form?" Temari asked Sasori.

"No, not at all." Sasori said before morphing into a huge red wolf and sitting back on his haunches.

"Thanks!" Temari said gratefully to which she received a nod of Sasori's huge wolf head.

"You like art un?" Deidara asked happily.

"Yep!" Temari replied happily.

"Itachi don't ever let her go I like her." Deidara said contently as he sat in the grass.

"So do I." Itachi said with a smile as he too sat down in the grass.

Temari leaned against Itachi as she sat cross legged on the cool grass and unpacked her art supplies. As she was in the middle of sketching a Temari heard someone walking up to her. Turning Temari saw Hidan coming up towards her.

"Hey sexy what are you up to?" Hidan asked in his most charming manner.

"Drawing Sasori." Temari said uninterested as she continued to sketch.

"Why I am much more handsome and powerful looking than he is both in human and wolf forms." Hidan said cockily to which he received a snarl from Sasori and a warning growl from Itachi as Hidan grew nearer.

"Because I find Sasori to be very majestic in his wolf and human form. More than you'll ever be." Temari countered lazily as she continued to sketch which caused Sasori to smirk at a now scowling Hidan.

"How do you find me?" Itachi asked smugly as he leaned his head down to rest against hers.

"I find you irritating yet somehow handsome and majestic at the same time." Temari replied calmly as she successfully fought down a blush.

"It's good to see you showing some form of emotion for once." Kisame said as he walked up to the group with a smile.

"I don't see what you find so attractive about Itachi." Hidan suddenly interjected arrogantly.

"I would shut up now if I were you." Kisame said warningly as he saw Itachi losing his patients.

"I mean I am much stronger and handsome. I would make a much better mate for you than him ." and with that Hidan was cut off from his little speech by Itachi who had tackled him in wolf form.

"He asked for it." Kisame muttered under his breath as he sat beside a still sketching Temari.

Hidan also morphed into his wolf for and the two snapped at each other and fought. Before anyone could say anything else Itachi had Hidan pinned to the ground with his jaws on Hidan's neck. Itachi began to bite down on Hidan's neck causing him to whimper.

"Enough!" boomed an authoritative voice.

Itachi let go of Hidan's neck and trotted over to Temari before morphing back into his human form and sitting down beside her. Hidan growled at Itachi and slunk away into the bushes.

"Hello Temari, my name is Pein. I have heard so much about you." Pein said in a stern voice.

"Hello Pein it's nice to meet you." Temari said politely.

Temari looked up to smile at Pein when their eyes met. A sudden sort of déjà vu feeling swept over her.

_Those eyes…why are they so familiar?!_ Temari asked herself.

"I fear today's meeting must be a brief one. For I must go hunting now. But I hope you come by to visit us again soon." Pein said with a wolfish grin that made Temari slightly uncomfortable.

"Will do." Temari replied with a slight smile.

"Good! I need everyone except Itachi to join me in a few minutes." Pein commanded and with that said Pein morphed into a huge wolf with multiple ringed eyes before bounding away.

Sasori whimpered at Temari as he motioned to Pein with his muzzle.

"It's alright I was done anyways." Temari said with a smile as she showed Sasori his portrait. Sasori nodded his head in approval before nuzzling her neck with Itachi's permission and bounding away.

"Nice job! Can you sketch me next time un?" Deidara asked before morphing into a powerful blonde wolf with sky blue eyes.

"Of course!" Temari said with a smile as Deidara bounded away.

"Bye Temari-chan! Tobi must go follow his sempi now because Tobi is a good boy!" Tobi said gleefully.

"Bye Tobi." Temari said chuckling as Tobi morphed and bounded away.

"I guess I have to go to, bye Temari." Kisame said getting up and morphing back into a wolf.

"Bye Kisame." Temari said gently and with that Itachi and Temari were left along in the meadow.

"Was that all of your pack?" Temari asked Itachi.

"No, the others must be out on assignment or something." Itachi replied.

"I guess we should get you back to the village." Itachi said unhappily.

"Yeah…" Temari replied with a sigh as she was helped up by Itachi.

The two of them walked contently hand in hand through the forest talking about random topics until they reached the entrance to the forest.

"Until tomorrow wolf girl." Itachi said with a smirk as he kissed her gently on the lips and then the forehead.

"Until tomorrow weasel." Temari said smugly before walking towards the village and making sure to add extra swing into her hips as she walked.

_That tease…one of these days I might just have to show her what happens when she provokes a wolf…_Itachi thought to himself smugly before morphing into a wolf and running in the direction his alpha went.

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A/N: Hi Everyone! ^-^ I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter! I would like to once again thank you all for your continued support! Remember the more reviews I get the faster I update. Reviews are GREATLY appreciated! Thank you for taking the time to read this! Until the next chapter,

-Midnight Oracle ^-^


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series in any way *Sniffles*.

Wolf Moon Chapter 17 

A gentle breeze toyed with the leaves on the trees in the forest while the sun shone brightly in the sky. A light rumbling from the waterfall caused the boulder on which Temari had flopped down upon to shake slightly. Temari lay on her stomach and lazily reached her hand down into the cool blue water causing ripples to form in its wake. The past few weeks had gone by quickly, during the day she trained, did missions, hung out with her brothers and Shikamaru and Sasuke while at night she spent her time with her werewolf boyfriend and at times his pack as well. But something bothered Temari…. it was the way Pein looked at her with self-satisfaction and the rumors of some villages being attacked by large wolves. Whenever Temari asked Itachi about this he always weaseled out of giving an answer. Then there was Sasuke ever since that night in the forest when he had been staring at one spot for a long period of time he had gotten paranoid about something. Whenever Temari tried to confront him about his behavior he weaseled out of it _just like Itachi…_ Temari thought to himself. Not only that but he seemed desperate to get her to spend time only with him. Not that Temari minded he was like family to her and she loved spending time with him. Yet the biggest situation that was nagging on Temari's mind was what Itachi had told her the last night…_***Flash Back* **_

_**Temari and Itachi were cuddled against each other in the tall grasses near Deer Meadow enjoying the warmth and comfort of being together when Itachi looked at her **_

"_**Pein has told me that he would like to talk to you privately when we meet up with the pack tonight." Itachi said while lazily tracing light patterns on her shoulder. **_

"_**Do you know about what ?" Temari asked nervously. **_

"_**No, but don't be nervous whatever it is I bet it won't be bad." Itachi replied with a half-smile.**_

Temari couldn't help but get an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. _I wonder what he wants from me…_Temari asked herself as she headed back toward the village.

-Meanwhile-

"Tonight I will ask Temari to join. If she says no I will give her 2 days to think about it before we force her to join or kill her for standing in our way. For in 3 days the moon will be full a real wolf moon. On a wolf moon night our strength is doubled. That will be the perfect night to begin the war. " Pein said calmly as Itachi stood before him.

"You have done an excellent job with this particular mission Itachi." Pein continued with a smirk.

Itachi just looked at him blankly and nodded his head in acknowledgement.

"Yet I do hope that you don't fall too hard for the girl just in case something goes wrong. Remember the pack comes first." Pein said in a warning tone.

Itachi just stood there silent as usual even though on the inside he wanted to snarl at Pein for even daring to think about hurting his mate.

"I'll see you tonight, you are dismissed." Pein said in an authoritative voice as Itachi turned and walked out of Pein's office.

Once outside of the cave Itachi morphed into a wolf and bounded through the forest and sat on a cliff overlooking the valley before turning back into his human self and sitting down in the tall grasses and letting the breeze comb through his jet black hair.

"So it is really you." Said a voice from behind Itachi as a familiar scent wafted towards him.

"It's been a long time Sasuke." Itachi said in a monotone voice.

"I thought the wolves had dragged your dead body away. But then I saw you in the woods, I would recognize those eyes anywhere. You are one of THEM now." Sasuke said his voice tight.

"It wasn't by choice I can assure you that." Itachi said calmly eyes scanning the village sadly.

"Why didn't you ever come back? Do you know how hard it has been this whole time thinking that everyone was dead that…you were dead?!" Sasuke asked getting mad.

"Everything I have done these past years was to protect you. Don't you think I wanted to come back?" Itachi said sadly.

"I don't know." Sasuke said in a strained tone of voice.

"Believe me Sasuke I wanted to come home but I can't…not with the situation I'm in." Itachi said forcefully before turning to face his brother.

"You wouldn't understand." Itachi continued sadly.

"Maybe not but I still don't know if I could ever forgive you for vanishing like that. I should kill you…you're not fully human anymore and you know what our family did with their kind." Sasuke replied angrily while clutching the sword on his belt.

Itachi heard his brother gripping the hilt of his sword and smirked as he felt his little brother hesitate.

"What are you waiting for?" Itachi asked smugly.

"I… think I'll spare you…since we are still technically family. But let me just tell you one thing stay AWAY from Temari." Sasuke said in a threatening tone of voice as Itachi stood and walked toward Sasuke with a smile on his face.

Itachi reached out his hand and poked Sasuke on the forehead like he used to do when they were younger before replying "We'll see…" in an amused tone of voice before morphing and bounding away.

Sasuke looked at the spot where Itachi had sat as his emotions raged inside of him. He was torn between wanting to hurt him for leaving him alone and becoming one of those vile creatures and then hugging him out of relief that he was okay. Then again he swore that if he tried anything on Temari he would skin him alive and with that thought he walked back towards the village as the sun was slowly beginning to set.

Temari hugged her brothers and bid them a goodnight as she tied her red cape around herself and stepped outside. Looking up Temari noticed that the moon was almost full once again. With a smile Temari mounted Midnight and took off in the direction of the forest. Itachi had told her that they were going to meet at Rainbow falls. As she neared the falls she nearly gasped at how beautiful it was in the moonlight. Fireflies danced about in the sky as the water flowed, the falls were illuminated by the moons radiant light.

"Beautiful isn't it." Said an amused voice.

"Yeah…"Temari said in wonderment as she looked down at Itachi who held midnight as she dismounted and then tied Midnight's reins on a nearby branch.

Itachi gently pushed aside some of Temari's hair from her face that had escaped from its ties before leaning down and kissing her sensuously and gently on the lips. As they broke the kiss Itachi stared at her beautiful jade eyes and how they seemed to light up under the moonlight.

"Ready?" Itachi asked gently as he wrapped he arm around her waist.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Temari replied with a half-smile as she allowed herself to be led towards the pack.

As they walked up towards the pack Pein walked up to Temari.

"Temari please follow me, I have something I wish to discuss with you." Pein said in authoritative tone of voice.

Reluctantly Temari and Itachi separated and Temari followed Pein to the other side of the lake.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Temari asked respectfully.

"Temari, you are a strong and skilled fighter." Pein began

"Thank you?" Temari said hesitantly.

"Your skills and strength could become so much more…you know what we are…once turned a human's strength doubles and on a wolf moon night it doubles again." Pein said patiently.

"Okay…."Temari said becoming slightly uneasy at where this was going.

"You see there was once a great war between your village and us wolves. We plan on getting our revenge. We know that we are sorely outnumbered yet from what Itachi has told me you humans seem to have forgotten about the war. That makes it easier to take. With our strength we could manage it but one more fighter on our side would ensure our victory." Pein said looking at Temari intently.

"Are you asking me to join you and betray my village?" Temari asked not liking the situation.

"Exactly, I know you must feel loyalty to your village but think about this could you really bear to lose you're the rest of your family because your family was once again too stubborn to join?" Pein asked amused.

"What are you talking about once again?!" Temari asked getting slightly annoyed.

"Tsk, tsk Temari it seems you've forgotten." Pein said his eyes gleaming dangerously in the moonlight.

"Forgotten what?" Temari annoyed.

"You were there the night your mom refused this exact same offer. But then again you were so young…yet it hurts that you don't remember me." Pein said his canines exposing themselves as he let out an evil chuckle.

_Oh god that laugh…those eyes…__***Flash Back* **_

_**A young Temari was sitting happily on her mom's lap between a cluster of boulders as they watched a couple of wolves frolicked about in the meadow through the cracks in the stone configurations. **_

"_**Have you thought about my offer?" asked a voice. **_

_**Temari and her mom both turned around to see a young man with orange hair, multiple piercings and malevolent look in his eyes. **_

"_**I have." Temari's mom said in a firm tone of voice as she stood up and put Temari behind her protectively. **_

"_**Well?" asked the man impatiently. **_

"_**I refuse Pein." Temari's mom said sternly. **_

"_**I'm sorry to hear you say that. Now unfortunately you and your darling daughter must die." Pein said closing his eyes claws began to form. **_

"_**Temari run to Star Fire as fast as you can, mount and get out of here!" Temari's mom commanded. **_

"_**But I don't want to leave you mama." Temari whined. **_

"_**No arguments GO!" Temari's mom shouted as she gripped the sword at her side. **_

_**The strange man began to laugh and soon the laugh sounded more animalistic as Temari ran. Soon Temari reached Star Fire and started to mount. Suddenly she was lifted up onto the saddle and someone mounted behind her. Turning her head Temari recognized her mother's red cape as they began to ride as fast as they could. **_

"_**Mama what's going on?" Temari asked getting scared. **_

"_**Nothing your mama can't handle. Don't worry baby I'll protect you." Temari's mom said determinedly. **_

_**Suddenly something jumped out in front of them grabbing Star Fire by the neck and brutally ripping her throat out causing them to fall. Temari's head banged against the ground hard as she felt her mom throw herself on top of her. The two of them were trapped beneath Star Fire's heavy dead and bleeding corpse. Suddenly she heard that man's laugh again and she saw him walking towards them ears and tail twitching excitedly. **_

"_**Should have just accepted my offer." Pein said with a smirk as he leaned above them.**_

_**Temari's vision began to cloud over as she was losing her consciousness **_

"_**No!" Temari heard her mom scream and then she felt her mom clutch her protectively and then cry out in pain before her breathing became labored. **_

"_**Temari…I will always love you…please remember that." Temari's mom panted before her body went limp. **_

"_**Mama…"Temari croaked out helplessly and scared. **_

"_**What a shame, she was so strong…oh well another kill." Pein smirked and then looked at Temari and raised his bloodied claws towards her trembling form. **_

"_**Hmm she could have some potential." Pein said as he contemplated whether or not to kill her. Temari lost fight against keeping her consciousness and blacked out. *End Of Flashback* **_

"YOU KILLED MY MOTHER! YOU BASTARD!" Temari yelled angrily.

"Yes that I did. Now I'm offering you the same deal, you have two days until I come for you to hear your answer. Refuse and I will make you watch as we rip your brother's throats out. Refuse again after that and we will force you to join us. Disobey me then and I will rip your throat out. I did not assign Itachi to get close to you in order to lose a fine warrior such as yourself because you were too stubborn." Pein said menacingly

"I'm glad we had this little chat. I'll see you in two days." Pein said with a smirk as he morphed into his wolf self and bounded away.

Temari's mind went numb. _My mother was murdered by this monster and Itachi…does he even really like me or was that all a lie? _Temari asked herself as she felt her heart begin to break and her emotions began to swirl around like a tornado inside her. Suddenly Temari heard Itachi's voice behind her.

"Hey, I saw Pein bound away. So are you going to be a wolf?" Itachi asked with a smile which turned into a frown as soon as he saw her expression.

"Why do you care since you were just toying with me to lure me in for your fucking alpha?!" Temari screamed out angrily.

"Temari…it may have started out that way but…" Itachi began only to be cut off by Temari who was backing away from him slowly.

"Save it! Our whole relationship was built on a lie!" Temari said as tears of betrayal began to pool in her eyes.

"Temari…I love you." Itachi said sadly as he began to walk towards her.

"Stay away from me! You're lying!" Temari said taking another step back and as she did so the earth gave way beneath her feet and she off the edge of the hill and into the swirling waters below.

"TEMARI!" Itachi yelled out concerned before diving in after her.

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A/N: Hello Everyone! ^-^ I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter! I want to thank you all for your support so far, it means a lot to me! Remember the more you review the faster I update. Reviews are GREATLY appreciated! Thank you for taking the time to read this! Until the next chapter,

-Midnight Oracle ^-^


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series in any way *Sniffles*.

Wolf Moon Chapter 18 

Temari felt as though all the air had been slapped out of her body the instant she hit the water with her back first. Temari gasped for air only to have the water enter her lungs instead as she was being dragged down to the bottom of the lake by the weight of her now sopping wet clothes. Temari frantically tried to untie her cape, as she began to cough and gag on the water in her lungs, but it was to stubbornly knotted, now Temari began to panic as she attempted to claw at the switchblade she kept in her riding boot. Temari sensed her body beginning to slow its movements and a feeling of exhaustion filled her being. Alarmed by these feelings Temari desperately fought against her now fading consciousness. Temari knew that she was done for now and feelings of regret for not spending more time with her loved ones and remorse for leaving them like this filled her being. As Temari was on the verge of falling into the alluring blackness that lapped at her consciousness she felt something slide around her waist and fight to drag her heavy body upwards. As her body made her try and breathe once more Temari sucked in a whole lot of air as she broke through the surface of the lake. Temari coughed painfully as her lungs burned like fire inside her body. Suddenly Temari felt herself being pulled to shore and lain down on a wet but warm surface.

"Temari thank god you're alive!" Itachi said shakily as he buried his face into the crook of her cold and wet neck.

"Itachi…." Temari began as she looked into his concerned eyes before her exhausted body forced her to black out.

"Temari?!" Itachi called out concerned as he leaned his ear against her chest and heard her heart beating steadily. _Thank heavens for that…_Itachi thought to himself relaxing a little.

Itachi carefully picked Temari up bridal style and walked away from the lake only to discover that his pack had disappeared. _Great they're gone when I actually need them…I guess I'll have to take her back to the village. _Itachi thought to himself feeling rather annoyed with the pack.

Cautiously Itachi carried Temari back to her horse. Midnight eyed him wearily as he gently placed an unconscious Temari onto the saddle before quickly mounting and leaning Temari protectively against his chest as he urged Midnight forward. The journey didn't take long before they reached the edge of the forest. Itachi stopped Midnight and looked at the village before him _Here goes nothing…_Itachi thought to himself determinedly as he rode Midnight into the village. Once inside Itachi picked up her scent trail and followed the pathway that had the most amount of her scent in it. Itachi rode up to a cozy looking cottage before dismounting , and taking Temari into his arms once again not bothering to tie up Midnight, walked up to the front door and knocked. The door swung open to reveal a young man with red hair and pale blue eyes that widened in shock at seeing Temari in his arms.

"What happened?!" he demanded as he signaled Itachi to enter.

"I was walking through the forest and I saw how she was riding up a stone pathway next to the waterfall. Her horse slipped and the two of them fell into the water. I jumped in after her and pulled her out." Itachi said lying through his teeth.

"Thank you stranger, please wait here a moment." The red head said cautiously as he took Temari from him and walked up the stair case.

Gaara took Temari to her room and changed her so she wouldn't get sick and tucked her into bed. Gaara kneeled next to her listening to her soft breathing. _Oh Temari please don't ever do this again…I can't lose another precious person in my life. _Gaara thought to himself distraught as he leaned down and kissed her forehead and walked out of her room and down the stair case to where the stranger was waiting.

"So stranger you got a name?" Gaara asked gruffly.

"Itachi…" Itachi said confidently and not at all intimidated by Gaara's glare.

"I thank you for rescuing my sister." Gaara said gratefully.

"It was no problem at all." Itachi said respectfully.

"Here please have a seat by the fire and dry yourself off." Gaara said as Itachi sat himself in the arm chair by the fire.

"So what is your job Itachi?" Gaara asked beginning his interrogation.

"I'm a hunter and a warrior." Itachi replied truthfully.

"From which village?" Gaara asked suspiciously.

"Arcadia…" Itachi lied.

"You know you remind me a little of Sasuke, yet I know you can't be related since his family was wiped out by wolves." Gaara said with his eyes narrowed.

"Is Sasuke Temari's boyfriend?" Itachi asked for his own amusement.

"No just a friend." Gaara snapped.

"Does Temari have a boyfriend?" Itachi asked entertained.

"Not that I know of…why?" Gaara asked in a protective voice.

"No reason I just thought a beautiful girl like her would have a guy already." Itachi said enjoying their conversation while Gaara on the other hand was getting irritated.

"Itachi my family and I are in your debt, I offer you to stay here over night." Gaara said graciously.

"Thank you, that is very kind." Itachi replied surprised.

"You may sleep here in the living room on the couch. My room is across from Temari's and the stairs creak. I will know if you try anything." Gaara said warningly as he stood up and began walking up the stairs.

"May I know the name of my gracious host?" Itachi asked

"Gaara, now goodnight Itachi." Gaara said before disappearing up the staircase.

"Goodnight Gaara." Itachi whispered to himself with a smirk adorning his face.

Once Itachi heard Gaara's steady deep breathing Itachi snuck out of the cottage and followed Temari's scent trail to a tree beside what he presumed was her window. Taking a deep breath Itachi flexed his claws and climbed up the tree and peered into the window and sure enough he saw Temari lying in her bed. With a satisfied feeling in the pit of his stomach Itachi silently snuck into her room and morphed into his wolf form. Gently he climbed onto the bed and curled himself up into a ball his ears on alert for any sign of intrusion. Itachi's mind replayed the look on her face as she found out that he was assigned to her. Itachi let out a soft whine _but I really do love you Temari…_Itachi thought to himself sadly as he rested his muzzle of her stomach. He would make her see that he did love her one way or another.

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A/N: Hi Everyone! ^-^ I'm sorry for not updating faster but life has been keeping me busy. Anyways I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter. As always I want to thank all my readers out there for supporting me, you guys are awesome! Remember the more reviews I get the faster I update. Reviews are GREATLY appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read this! Until the next chapter,

-Midnight Oracle ^-^


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series in any way *Sniffles*.

Wolf Moon Chapter 19 

Temari attempted to roll over in her sleep but something heavy was weighing her down. Groggily Temari sat up and noticed that whatever was weighing her down was warm and breathing. Eyes flying open Temari looked down to see a black wolf sprawled out across the bed paws twitching slightly as he slept. The corners of her mouth twitched threatening to break into a smile as the wolf stirred and opened its crimson eyes to look at her before whining and licking her shyly on the cheek his ears lay flat in sorrow.

"Itachi…" Temari sighed as the tears building in her eyes slowly began to run down her cheeks. Alarmed Itachi whined again and licked the fallen liquid diamonds off of her cheek.

"Do you really love me or is this an act Pein put you up to again to try and convince me to join?" Temari whispered her voice cracking as she looked at him with a pained expression.

Suddenly Itachi shifted into his human form and kissed her with such passion as he tried to convey all of the love he felt for her and the worry he felt when he thought that he might have lost her for good. Temari gasped at the amount of passion that he threw into the kiss and Itachi took that as an opportunity to run his tongue across her lower lip sucking on it gently. Temari wound her arms around Itachi's neck pulling him closer to her. The need for air caused the two of them to break apart but they kept their noses touching as they silently panted while looking into each other's eyes.

"Temari…I love you more than anything in the world! I thought I was going to die of worry when you fell into the lake. PLEASE believe me when I say this may have started out as me just trying to get to you but then as we got to know each other better I began to fall for you and now I can't imagine my life without you." Itachi said in a gentle yet serious tone that booked no argument.

Temari searched his eyes and found love, pleading, sorrow, and passion in them. _Whether I like it or not I still love this man…_Temari thought to herself as she brought her lips to Itachi's and kissed him passionately. She felt Itachi respond to her with equal fire. Suddenly Itachi broke the kiss and Temari looked at him confused.

"Itachi what is it?" Temari asked him.

"Your brother is waking up and I intend to stay alive. I'll meet you downstairs in a bit." Itachi whispered into her ear before kissing her chastely on the lips and climbing off her bed he readied himself to depart her room.

"So the big bad wolf is afraid of my brother." Temari said teasingly.

"No, but I do wish to see the sun rise tomorrow." Itachi replied and uncharacteristically stuck his tongue out at her before he climbed out of her window and snuck downstairs and lay himself down upon the couch.

Not too much later Gaara woke up and went to check on Temari who was sitting up in bed and looking out the window. Hearing him enter the room Temari decided to confront her older brother about what really happened to their mom.

"So that's why the two of you were always so paranoid about me going into the woods at night." Temari said softly not looking at him.

"Temari?" Gaara asked cautiously.

"A werewolf killed her and that's why you and Kankuro were always so upset about me going into the forest by myself at night." Temari said firmly.

"So you do remember." Gaara said with a sad sigh.

"I didn't until last night during the accident." Temari said in a soft tone of voice.

"Yes after we found you covered in mom's blood and your own. Both of your red capes snagged and giant claw marks that were carved into mom's back we knew." Gaara said his voice tight with emotion.

"Why does the village not inform its people of the werewolves and their existence? And what was the Great War between humans and werewolves about?" Temari asked with a determination that she seldom used.

"That is not for me to tell, we'll go talk to Tsunade after breakfast. Now let's go down stairs, the stranger who saved you must be waiting for us if he hasn't left already." Gaara said

"Stranger?" Temari asked feigning innocence

"Yes he saved you and brought you home. Now get dressed and meet me downstairs." Gaara said leaving her room and closing the door behind him.

Temari quickly jumped out of bed and put on a deep red top, her corset, a pair of black riding pants and riding boots before tying her hair into its usual pigtails and heading downstairs. As she arrived Temari saw Itachi stare at her eyes combing over her curvy body.

"Good morning lady knight." Itachi said trying to hide his smirk as he got up from the table and kissed her hand.

"Good morning kind sir." Temari said fighting down a blush as she saw Gaara staring at them from the corner of his eye.

"Such familiarity…"Gaara grumbled under his breath as he bit into his egg sandwhich.

The three of them ate breakfast in awkward silence (well awkward for Gaara as he noticed the looks that Temari and Itachi kept shooting each other).

_They have definitely met before…maybe….maybe they are together? No! Temari would have told me…or would she…knowing Temari probably not. I'll find a way to reveal the true nature of their relationship. _Gaara thought to himself in a scheming manner.

"So Itachi I was thinking, since you are a hunter do you know anything about wolves?" Gaara asked feigning innocence as Temari gave her brother a look that clearly said what-do-you-have-planned.

"Yes I suppose I know a thing or two." Itachi answered truthfully.

"Excellent then you wouldn't mind going to see the village leader with us after breakfast." Gaara said trying to make him squirm.

"Alright when do we leave?" Itachi asked cautiously as Temari glanced between her brother and her boyfriend.

"Right now." Gaara replied as finished clearing away the table.

The three of them left the cottage took care of Midnight; Star their other horse was gone because Kankuro had taken her for his mission. Then they walked to Lady Tsunade's office and knocked.

"Enter…" said a friendly voice.

"Hello Lady Tsunade." Temari said in a cheerfully as Tsunade looked up from her desk.

"Ah hello Temari, Gaara, and…" Tsunade began

"Itachi…" Itachi replied.

"What can I do for you guys?" Tsunade asked while asking herself _why does Itachi look so familiar to me? _

"She knows the truth about our mother's death now." Gaara replied solemnly.

"I see…and I bet you are now wondering why I keep the knowledge of werewolves a secret from the villages?" Tsunade asked Temari

"Yes that and I also wish to know about the Great War." Temari replied determinedly

"How do you know about the Great War?  
>Tsunade asked surprised.<p>

"I'll tell you after you tell me what I want to know." Temari replied stubbornly which caused Tsunade to chuckle.

"Alright well for the first part I have a secret sector of knights that protect humans from werewolves so I figure why spread massive panic when I can keep the peace and protect my people at the same time." Tsunade said logically.

"Now as for the Great War it's a long story you're going to want to have a seat." Tsunade said as they all sat down.

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A/N: Hi Everyone! ^-^ As always I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter! I want to thank you all for your amazing and continued support, it means a lot to me! Remember the more you review the faster I update. Reviews are GREATLY appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Until the next chapter,

-Midnight Oracle ^-^


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series in any way *Sniffles*.

Wolf Moon Chapter 20

"There was a time when werewolves and humans were friends and lived in harmony with one another. People say the Great War began when Yuma the daughter of a previous village leader and Dmitri the son of the pack leader fell in love with one another. That wasn't the problem… the problem was that Neal, Yuma's best friend was secretly deeply and possessively in love with her. One day Dmitri proposed to Yuma. Yuma was overjoyed but as Neal learned about the engagement, a deep hatred consumed his heart for the wolf who was taking his love away from him and so he plotted a way to kill Dmitri. It was the day before the joyous wedding when Dmitri was walking through the village square when out of the shadows of an alley Neal came and knifed him in the gut and then sliced his own stomach in the form of claw marks, but not deep enough to be fatal, and quickly he grabbed one of Dmitri's hands and placed his half turned claws onto his wound knowing that a werewolf healed quickly and yelled out in pain. People ran and saw a half turned wolf with bloody claws and a human bleeding. He was then quickly arrested and the wedding halted. Both men pleaded for her to believe them. Being as much in love as they were Yuma believed Dmitri and planned to rescue him. Yuma broke Dmitri out of jail and ran away with Dmitri. For a few years the couple lived in peace until Neal tracked them down. His blind rage caused him to strike out against Dmitri who was peacefully hunting in the forest and killed him. Hearing a cry he saw a wolf cub run up and sniff his dead father and let out a whimper and then he heard a scream and turned around and saw Yuma standing there face contorted in pain as she pushed him aside and knelt next to her dead lover as the cub morphed into a boy four years of age. The boy ran to Yuma…"Mama!" It cried out sorrowfully. Angrily he ran his blade through his love. For if he couldn't have her then nobody ever would. She was his and his alone! Frightened the little boy ran but Neal caught up to him easily and dispatched of him. Angrily he threw the knife into a lake nearby and watched as it sank. He then went to go visit the sight of the massacre one more time. Satisfied Neal began to walk away only to have his foot slip which caused him to be impaled on a sharp branch. Soon their bodies were found and to make a long story shorter fingers were pointed at each other . From both sides came orders for assassinations to occur against each other and before anyone could blink they were at war." Lady Tsunade explained patiently.

"But then how did the war end?" Temari asked

"Some say both sides got tired and called a truce. Humans and wolves tried to live in harmony once again but fear and hatred got in the way and soon both sides agreed it was best to go separate ways. Yet some humans and wolves couldn't accept that and began hunting and killing one another in secret. With no war for many years thereafter people slowly began to forget. The occasional murder now and then didn't raise any eyebrows and so the shadow war began and has never really ended" Tsunade said in a sad tone of voice.

"I see…" Temari said sadly.

"Now who told you about the Great War?" Tsunade asked patiently.

Taking a deep breath Temari got up and walked over to Itachi who then wrapped his arms around Temari's waist protectively. Both Tsunade and Gaara looked at each other confused and surprised as Temari began to tell them everything that had happened since the fateful day that Itachi and Temari's fates intertwined. Tsunade and Gaara kept glancing at each other through out Temari's tale. By the end there was a defining silence that hung in the room.

"I see…" Tsunade said softly as Gaara suddenly stood up enraged.

"How can you even stand him touching you after what his KIND did to our family!" Gaara snapped angrily at her.

"Because I love him more than anything in the world and I would rather die than be parted from him." Temari said deadly serious and slightly surprised at the truth behind her words.

"And I love her more than anything in the world." Itachi stated firmly.

"Itachi…your last name wouldn't happen to be Uchiha would it?" Tsunade suddenly interjected.

"It is…" Itachi stated sadly.

"Then you are Sasuke's older brother." Tsunade responded and in response she received a nod from Itachi and a shocked look from Gaara and Temari.

"I know what your family went through Gaara…mine went through the same thing when I refused Pein's offer." Itachi said in a depressed tone of voice. Gaara looked at him his expression softening.

"How do we save my sister and stop the battle of wolf moon as Pein likes to call it?" Gaara asked in a pleading tone of voice.

"I might have an idea." Itachi replied hesitantly.

"Please share." Tsunade said patiently.

"All of the wolves except for Pein's mate joined him against their will after he slaughtered their families and blackmailed them with some form of knowledge and or threat varying from wolf to wolf. Other's in our pack had attempted mutiny but were snuffed out. If I could somehow convince the other wolves to join our side and turn against Pein without him realizing it and before he finds out we may have a chance of taking him out along with his mate since she'd go after us as a way of revenge. The only other problem is that once Pein dies the wolves will have nowhere to go. " Itachi explained calmly.

"What if the council and I drew up a peace treaty between werewolves and humans and offered them a place to live without having to worry about being hunted." Tsunade said thoughtfully.

"That might actually work." Itachi said with hope laced through his voice.

"How many days until he awaits your answer and attacks us ?" Tsunade asked

"Tomorrow night is the full moon and this is when he will come for her answer at the edge of the forest and plans to attack the village." Itachi replied sullenly.

"I see, we better get a move on it then. I have the council to meet with, warriors to conference and warn, and you have your pack mates to deal with. I wish you the best of luck Itachi." Tsunade said encouragingly.

"Thank you Lady Tsunade." Itachi replied with a slight smile.

"Everyone is dismissed." Tsunade said with an encouraging smile.

As they left Gaara looked at Itachi

"If anything happens to her and I mean ANYTHING I will hunt you down and kill you." Gaara said warningly.

"I'd rather die than see any harm come to her. I swear I will do everything in my power to protect her." Itachi said seriously.

Gaara looked at him before nodding to him approvingly and walking away.

"Are you scared?" Itachi asked looking at Temari who was nervously eyeing the forest.

"Kind of…" Temari admitted sheepishly as she looked into Itachi's eyes.

"I meant what I said I won't let anything happen to you or this village." Itachi said in a comforting manner before leaning down and kissing her.

After breaking the kiss Temari leaned her forehead against his.

"When do you leave to talk to the pack?" Temari asked her voice a whisper.

"Tomorrow morning…Pein will be in his cave all evening but he always leaves to go on a four hour hunt before he attacks humans and his mate usually goes with him. That will be the perfect opportunity to speak with them." Itachi replied softly in her ear before nuzzling his face into the crook of Temari's neck.

"Oi love birds I hate to break the moment but I need Itachi to help me win over the council." Tsunade said from behind them causing the couple to blush and reluctantly break apart from one another.

"Meet me at your cottage at sun down." Itachi said

"I will…" Temari replied with a smile that matched his as he turned and followed Tsunade inside her office.

A few moments later Temari heard a familiar voice from behind her.

"Temari can we go talk in private?" Sasuke asked her nervously oblivious to what was happening as he motioned for her to follow him.

"Of course." Temari replied smiling at her childhood friend before following after him.

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A/N: Hi Everyone! ^-^ I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter! I'm sorry I didn't update sooner but my internet was acting up. I want to thank everyone for their amazing support so far! The more reviews I get the faster I update. Reviews are GREATLY appreciated! Thank you for taking the time to read this. Until the next chapter,

-Midnight Oracle ^-^


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series in any way shape or form *Sniffles*.

Wolf Moon Chapter 21 

Temari followed Sasuke to a meadow on the outskirts of the village before sitting down on the roots of a huge weeping willow. Sasuke uncharacteristically blushed as he took Temari's hands in his own before speaking

"Temari we've known each other for a really long time and you mean a lot to me." Sasuke began nervously as Temari looked at him patiently.

"Over the years I began liking you more than a friend and I just wanted to tell you that I love you…will you be my girl?" Sasuke asked with a hopeful expression etched on his face.

Temari's eyes widened as she stared at her best friend before taking one of her hands out of Sasuke's and gently pressing it against his cheek. Sasuke responded to this by nuzzling his face against Temari's palm.

"Sasuke… you mean a lot to me as well. I mean we've been through so much together…I love you too but not in the way I think you want me to." Temari said sadly and Sasuke retracted his face from her hand.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked with a confused expression on his face.

"I..I love you like a brother and nothing more. I'm sorry…" Temari said softly.

"Is there someone else in your life that I don't know about?" Sasuke asked afraid of the answer he knew was coming.

"Yes…" Temari replied in a soothing tone of voice.

"Who?" Sasuke asked even though he had a feeling he knew who.

"Itachi…your older brother." Temari said watching his eyes widen.

"You knew he was my brother?" Sasuke asked surprised.

"Not at first…but as I got to know him better I had a feeling you two were related and when he confessed it today I knew for sure." Temari replied.

"Temari answer me this…if Itachi had never shown up…would I have had a chance?" Sasuke asked sadly.

"I don't know…probably not." Temari replied with a sad smile.

"I see sorry for wasting your time." Sasuke said his voice tight with hurt as he stood up only to have Temari grab his arm.

"Sasuke I know your hurt but please don't shut me out. You mean so much to me, I don't know what I'd do if I lost my best friend in the whole wide world." Temari said her voice cracking slightly.

"You'll never lose me Temari. I just need to be alone for awhile today. I'll see you tomorrow okay?" Sasuke said with a sad half-smile.

"Okay, until tomorrow then." Temari said letting go of his arm and watching him walk away.

Temari sat rooted to the spot as she stared at the place where Sasuke had stood.

"So duck butt finally confessed how he felt." Drawled a lazy voice from above her.

Temari looked up to see Shikamaru standing in front of her looking down on her.

"Yeah…" Temari replied sadly.

"I see it didn't go well I take it." Shikamaru said while taking a seat next to her.

"What gave it away?" Temari asked sarcastically

"The fact that Sasuke looks like his favorite pet just died and you look as though someone took away your favorite sword." Shikamaru said reasonably

"Yeah…I mean I love Sasuke but…" Temari began only to have Shikamaru interject

"But not the way he loves you." Shikamaru said

Temari looked at Shikamaru surprised.

"How did you know?" Temari asked.

"Oh please you are like one of my best friends. How could I not notice when you suddenly seemed happier than usual. You practically glowed with content not to mention you were practically chomping at the bit more than usual waiting for night to fall so you could sneak off into the woods. I figured you'd met a guy and you'd tell us about him when you were ready. I was a bit surprised that Sasuke seemed oblivious about what was happening since he's known you longer but then I saw the way he watched you and realized that he was blinded by his own love for you." Shikamaru explained.

"I see…" Temari said softly.

"I wish you the best of happiness with this guy. But let me just tell you this. If he ever does ANYTHING that ends up with you getting hurt whether it be mental, physical or both I will kill him without hesitation." Shikamaru said his voice serious.

"Don't worry you can have what would be left of him after I kick his ass." Temari said with a smirk on her face.

"You are just too troublesome for your own good you know that right?" Shikamaru said in a teasing manner.

"I know crybaby." Temari said smugly as the two of them stood up and hugged.

"I guess we'd better go and get updated on tomorrow's possible battle." Shikamaru said knowingly to which Temari nodded and followed Shikamaru back into town.

The rest of the day flew by in a rush between extra training sessions and strategy conferences. Finally Temari was able to go home. Upon arriving at her cottage she saw Itachi leaning against her door eyes closed ears and tail out. Upon hearing her arrive Itachi turned to look at her.

"About time you got here wolf girl." Itachi said fondly as he walked up to Temari and kissed her.

Temari wrapped her arms around Itachi's neck and deepened the kiss. When the two of them pulled apart he offered his arm to Temari

"Ready my lady?" Itachi asked playfully

"Always." Temari said and smirked as she took his arm and the two of them went into the forest.

Temari and Itachi walked through the forest making idle chatter both nervous about the battle that was to occur the next evening. As they walked a storm pulled in causing the two love birds to try and find shelter. Itachi managed to find a cave for them to duck into. Itachi went back out into the storm and came back with some miraculously dry wood for a fire. The fire crackled and illuminated the cave as Temari lay on the cave floor using her wet cape as a pillow with Itachi cuddled up next to her using her chest as a pillow. Itachi sat up and looked at Temari with a tender smile brushing the wet hair off her face before leaning down to kiss her.

Temari smiled into the kiss as he deepened it and pulled him closer which caused Itachi to growl in approval as he straddled Temari. Itachi ran his tongue across Temari's lips causing Temari to sigh contently and opened her mouth to let Itachi's tongue into her mouth. Temari and Itachi's tongues playfully battled for dominance. Itachi won by gently grinding his lower half against Temari causing her to moan and lose. Satisfied Itachi pulled back from her lips and buried his face into the crook of her neck nipping at the skin playfully and sucking on the skin as a way to mark her as his. This caused little moans to erupt from Temari's mouth and the more Itachi heard Temari moan and sigh in contentment the more aroused he became. Itachi leaned back and put his full weight onto Temari's lower half causing her to gasp as she felt his bulge press down against her, and her gasp was all the encouragement that he needed and he began to untie the strings on her corset.

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A/N: Hi Everyone! ^-^ As always I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter! I want to thank you all for your wonderful support so far! Remember the more you review the faster I update. Reviews are GREATLY appreciated. I also want to wish Mari a belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY! XD Thank you for taking the time to read this. Until the next chapter,

-Midnight Oracle ^-^


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series in any way shape or form *Sniffles*.

Wolf Moon Chapter 22 

Temari opened her eyes and found herself staring at a bare and sexily toned chest. A blush seared itself onto Temari's face as she felt Itachi's arm that had been draped around her protectively pull her tighter against him as he nuzzled his face into her hair.

"Morning love." Itachi said lovingly as he gazed affectionately into her eyes.

"Morning." Temari smiled as she kissed him chastely on the lips.

The couple would have loved to stay curled up with each other for hours but they had a big day ahead of them. Reluctantly Temari detached herself from Itachi and giggled as Itachi growled at the loss of bodily contact. Soon the two of them were dressed and standing at the entrance of the cave. Temari turned to face him and hugged him tightly.

"Good luck Weasel." Temari said playfully as she felt Itachi pull her tighter against his body.

"Thanks, stay safe!" Itachi said commandingly

"Itachi in case something happens tonight…." Temari was cut off by Itachi's lips against hers.

"It won't everything will be alright." Itachi mumbled against her lips before kissing her and morphing into a black wolf. Itachi nuzzled his muzzle against her hip before bounding away _I hope everything goes smoothly Temari I really do ._Itachi thought to himself sadly as he bounded towards the hide out.

Itachi ran into the hide out and morphed back into his human form and went to go look for his pack mates. Itachi found them huddled around a fire sipping tea.

"Look who is home." Kisame said noticing him first.

"Where were you un?" Deidara asked with a smirk on his face.

"With Temari." Itachi answered

"The whole night?" Sasori asked with an amused expression on his face.

"Yes now…" Itachi began before he was interrupted by Kisame

"Our little boy is finally a man." Kisame said wiping imaginary tears from his eyes.

"But Sempi wasn't Itachi always a man? Tobi is confused." Tobi said as everyone in the room sweat dropped from Itachi's innocence.

"Tobi of course he is a male but what we mean is…."Deidara began before he was cut off by Hidan "She's way too good for you." Hidan grumbled.

"No she's way too good for you but perfect for Itachi." Kisame said with a chuckle to which he received a glare from Hidan.

"Anyways I think you wanted to tell us something Itachi." Sasori said with a slight smile on his face as he noticed Itachi's annoyed expression.

"Right, it's regarding tonight's battle." Itachi said effectively gaining all of their attention.

"Remember the mutiny we had begun to plan I think tonight is the perfect night to pull it off." Itachi said

"How so un?" Deidara asked expectantly

"Well when Temari refuses Pein's offer I know he will order us to attack. But we don't except I know Konan will because she is loyal to her mate. I will need two of you to go after her and take her down. The rest of us will gang up on Pein and take him out. It'll be easier if all of us attack at once so he can't just pick us off one by one. Once he's dead will all be able to have our revenge and the ability to start over again." Itachi explained calmly.

"Okay let's say we do this where will we live? Need I remind you about the shadow war?" Kisame said looking at his pack mates.

"I have already spoken with Lady Tsunade the leader of the main village. She and the council have drawn out a peace treaty between humans and wolves. We will be free to live in the main village unafraid of being hunted down. For as long as we are loyal to the village the village will protect us. Lady Tsunade said she was also going to try and convince the other villages to follow in her footsteps." Itachi replied.

"That could work." Sasori said pleased.

"Where is Kakuzu and Zetsu?" Itachi asked glancing around.

"They have been banished since they tried to take Pein out on their own." Kisame replied looking at his friend.

"Anyone know where they are?" Itachi asked

"No, but I'm sure once this is over we could bring them back to the pack." Kisame replied once again.

"Alright I can't wait to take down this bastard and prove to Temari that I'm better for her." Hidan said determinedly

Itachi was about to say something when Kisame gave him a look that said oh-just-drop-it-until-we-get-tonight-over-with. Nodding Itachi let it slide this time.

The rest of the morning and afternoon was spent plotting out their mutiny before dispersing a few moments before Pein and Konan came back from their hunt.

Temari snuck into the house and took a quick bath before changing into fresh clothes and grabbing her swords from her room and the stone she used to sharpen them and went downstairs. Temari found Gaara sitting in the living room sharpening his swords.

"Are you nervous?" Gaara asked sensing her staring at him.

"Kind of…" Temari admitted nervously as she sat beside her brother.

The two of them spent most of the morning and afternoon together reminiscing and sharpening their weaponry. As the sun began to set they met with the rest of the villages knights to go over battle plans and strategies one more time. Before Temari knew it the sun had set and the full moon was now hanging high in the sky. Slowly Gaara and Temari walked with each other towards the battleground each hiding their worries from one another.

"Don't worry Temari we've got your back." Gaara said encouragingly before camouflaging himself with the landscape.

Temari walked to the entrance of the village with her heart pounding at a painful speed. _Itachi I hope everything went well on your end…._Temari thought to herself as she saw Pein walking towards her surrounded by the pack.

"What have you decided?" Pein asked coldly

"I refuse." Temari said harshly

"I see that's too bad." Pein said with a smirk.

"I don't see it that way." Temari said sternly

"You will when you watch everything you ever cared about get ripped away from you. Wolves attack now!" Pein demanded.

Konan sprang forward and raced toward the village with Hidan and Tobi racing after her while the others stood still. Noticing this Pein whirled around

"Why are you not attacking?!" Pein demanded outraged.

Suddenly a whimper filled the air as Pein whipped around in time to witness Tobi clawing Konan's belly open while Hidan leapt up and ripped out Konan's throat.

"I think they are done with being oppressed by a bastard like you." Temari said coldly as Pein whirled around to face her again.

"Those wolves are nothing without me!" Pein screeched to which Temari responded with a raised eyebrow.

"Actually I find every one of them unique and amazing. They are more than you will ever be. Once this is over they are free to live in the village under the protection of Lady Tsunade." Temari said smugly.

"You…you bitch! You will pay for this!" Pein screamed and before anyone could blink Pein charged at Temari and slashed her deeply across the stomach. Temari's eyes widened as she felt Pein's claws tear into her flesh. Internally wincing Temari clutched her stomach and looked defiantly into Pein's smug eyes refusing to give that bastard the satisfaction of seeing the pain in her eyes. Temari felt her strength failing her as her blood began to flow over her hand.

"This is the end of the line for you bitch. Tell your mom I said hi when you meet her in the afterlife." Pein hissed at her with satisfaction evident in his voice.

Pein searched her face for any signs of fear or weakness; instead he found defiance and satisfaction.

"Why are you not afraid?" Pein asked confused.

"Because I hope you're prepared to die, since there is no way that you are leaving here alive." Temari said calmly before she felt all her strength leave her as she collapsed to the ground.

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A/N: Hi Everyone! ^-^ I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter! I want to thank you all for your support so far. Reviews are GREATLY appreciated. Remember the more you review the faster I update. Thank you for taking the time to read this! Until the next chapter,

-Midnight Oracle ^-^


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series in any way shape or form *Sniffles*.

Wolf Moon Chapter 23 

"Itachi…" Temari whispered her weakening voice reached Itachi's sensitive ears.

Itachi's blood froze in his veins as he saw Temari's body crumple to the floor .With a scream of rage Itachi charged Pein and morphed into his wolf form as they collided. The two wolves ferociously clawed and snapped at each other. After overcoming his own shock of what he had just witnessed Kisame clearly outraged launched himself at Pein and sank his fangs into Pein's back and pulled tearing a huge chunk of skin off. Suddenly all of the wolves charged and attacked Pein. Now that Pein was being attacked by the whole pack Itachi took this as his cue to back out. Itachi frantically morphed back into a human and ran to Temari who was lying on the floor breaths coming out in shallow pained breaths. Suddenly there was a yelp and Itachi turned back to see Sasori rip out Pein's throat while Deidara tore open Pein's chest cavity and ripped out Pein's heart slicing it in half with his claws as Pein's dead body fell to the ground with a thud. Any satisfaction Itachi felt at seeing Pein's dead body was quickly squashed as Itachi turned back to look at Temari whose breathing turned ragged.

"Good to see you Weasel…"Temari croaked out wheezing in pain.

"It's good to see you too wolf girl." Itachi said while frantically trying to keep the panic out of his voice as he ripped his shirt and tried to bind Temari's midsection. Suddenly Gaara and Sasuke ran forward.

"Temari!" They both cried out in unison.

"All right everyone out of my way!" Sakura the village healer yelled.

Everyone immediately stood back except for Itachi who had Temari cradled on his lap. Sasuke saw the torment in his older brother's eyes as he watched Sakura examine Temari's injuries. _He really loves her…_Sasuke thought to himself sadly realizing that they belonged together.

"Can you heal her un?" Deidara asked with a whine.

"No…I'm not a surgeon." Sakura said her voice quivering with sadness.

"NO THAT'S NOT ACCEPTABLE!" Itachi yelled out in pain and panic surprising everyone.

"Itachi there is something you could do." Kisame said giving Itachi a knowing look.

"I can't turn her into a monster." Itachi said tears streaking down his cheeks as he heard Temari's heart beats growing fainter and her breathing getting shallower. Suddenly Itachi felt something warm and wet on his cheek and looked down to see that Temari had managed to place her blood covered hand on his cheek and looked into her eyes.

"Itachi….I'm sorry…..we…..didn't ….get more….time….together….just know…I love…you…" Temari panted out soothingly while the tears pooling in her eyes betrayed her attempt at bravado.

"Temari…"Itachi said in a strangled half sob while nuzzling his face into her hand.

"Gaara….I'm sorry…for having to leave you….like this…I love…you…guys! You're one of …the best…brothers….I have ….ever had! Please promise ….me that…..you'll…lead good lives…and not blame….yourselves." Temari panted out heavily, her voice tight with emotion as she felt her consciousness begin to leave her. The pain in her abdomen was unbelievably strong as the rest of the world began to grow dark. The last thing Temari heard was her brother's voice ringing out before the pain subsided and her world went black.

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A/N: Hi Everyone! ^-^ As always I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter! Sadly there aren't many chapters left in this fanfiction. But I hope that you have all been enjoying my story so far. I am grateful to my readers who have been and still are supporting me, you guys rock! Remember the more reviews I get the faster I update. Reviews are GREATLY appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read this! Until the next chapter,

-Midnight Oracle ^-^


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series in any way shape or form *Sniffles*.

Wolf Moon Chapter 24 

"If you turn her…will she live?" Gaara demanded suddenly.

"Yes...but she'll be one of us." Itachi said depressed.

"Somehow I don't think she'd mind." Gaara said sadly as he crouched next to his sister who was fading fast.

"Lady Tsunade…." Itachi began

"Do it Itachi!" Tsunade said determinedly

Itachi didn't need to be told twice ripping off the sleeve of his shirt Itachi bit down on his arm and poured some of his blood into Temari's gaping wound. Itachi's wounds healed immediately and Itachi's heart froze as Temari stopped breathing. Itachi leaned his head against Temari's chest waiting to hear her heart beat restart. But to his utter dismay it appeared that nothing was happening.

"COME ON TEMARI DON'T DO THIS TO US!" Sasuke yelled out trying to fight his way out of Shikamaru's grip. Yet a few more minutes passed and no sign of life could be detected from Temari's now cooling body.

"TEMARI DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE ME!" Itachi cried out in agony before nuzzling his face into the crook of her neck trying to take in her sweet scent one last time. The rest of the pack whined in unison as they approached the couple before sitting back on their haunches and then threw their muzzles toward the inky black sky and letting out a pained howl.

The rest of the people watching the scene let their tears flow freely as they embraced each other.

Itachi's agony and pain became so strong that he couldn't control his anguish at losing his mate and he let the tears fall freely onto Temari and he didn't mind sobbing and howling in public. The minutes crawled and Itachi's agony grew stronger as the hoped for change in Temari wasn't occurring. He didn't know if he could survive without the love of his life and more painful sobs wracked his body….. when suddenly a familiar weak voice pierced the night sky

"I…already…have…one crybaby….in…my life…don't…need…another." Temari said panting with a weak smirk on her face as the wound slowly continued to close itself.

"Temari!" Itachi cried out in relief and happiness before he kissed her forcefully on the lips.

-Epilogue-

Temari stood next to Itachi overlooking the village. It had been a year since Itachi nearly lost the love of his life. The two of them planned to get married in the spring. Even though Pein had been a terrible leader the pack happily obeyed Itachi and made him their new pack Alpha.

"Race you home!" Temari said energetically with a happy smile on her face while the breeze gently played with her bangs.

"Alright what do I get if I win?" Itachi asked with a smirk on his face.

Temari leaned up and whispered something into Itachi's face that made his smirk widen even more.

"Alright you're on." Itachi said with a chuckle as he thought to himself "_Oh I am so making sure I win_!"

"Excellent!" Temari said before kissing his cheek before morphing into a sandy colored wolf and taking off down the forest path. Itachi let out a laugh before morphing into his wolf form and racing after her.

When Gaara told Kankuro everything he had missed Kankuro nearly passed out before trying to kill Itachi as he was still angry at what had happened to his beloved sister and wasn't sure that he was happy with having Itachi as a brother-in-law to be.

Sasuke, Itachi, and Temari reconciled things between them and after much convincing Sasuke asked Sakura out much to Sakura's delight.

The village was finally in harmony with one another once more. Soon other villages also began partaking in the treaty and the wolves began to live with humans harmoniously again bringing about the beginning of the end of the shadow war.

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A/N: Hello Everyone ^-^! Sadly it has come, the end of this story. I hope you all have enjoyed it! I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for reading this story! I also want to thank those who have favorited, followed, and or reviewed for this story! You guys helped keep me motivated to write. I especially want to thank the following people for reviewing:

-sasukeisthebest

-Adriana

-Mari

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-Konan

-Lady Shizu

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-Konan Uchiha Sasuke

-RavenStark

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-D

-Shinice

Once again I thank you!

-Midnight Oracle ^-^


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